The first-ever Virtual HPE Community Stroke Partners Expo was held on February 23rd, 2021. Sixteen community agencies from across Hastings Prince Edward County and beyond shared information with the attending health care providers about the services they offer to stroke survivors and their families. This project was a partnership with the University of Ottawa who hosted the event using their OnAir virtual conference platform. Participants could attend the rapid podium presentations and visit virtual ‘booths’ to have a direct conversation with the community agency representatives to access additional resources and learn more about the offered services. Community agencies represented a broad range of client and caregiver supports including financial, mental health, vocational, brain injury, rehabilitation, community exercise/recreation, Indigenous, communicative and community health. Expo highlights included presentations by a stroke survivor and a caregiver as each described their experiences in accessing community supports and the value it brought them. The afternoon was a solid success, with one attendee reporting “I now have more community resources to transition my patients towards to maintain the gains we have worked towards”, acknowledging that “better knowledge of supports is key to a good recovery”. Regarding the use of virtual conferencing for this type of event, one participant said“I am a tech dinosaur and I found this easy to use. That's high praise!!”With such a positive response and the ongoing limitations presented by COVID-19, we plan to offer the same experience to health care providers in Lanark, Leeds and Grenville in the fall of 2021.“I believe this is the wave of the future and that on line Expos will be offered for a number of health related events”Videos and all other resources from the HPE Expo have been posted to our website.Learn More
Fewer strokes. Better outcomes.