What We Do

In each of the four planning areas in Southeastern Ontario, local teams have assessed their practice against the Canadian Best Practice Recommendations for Stroke Care and developed biennial workplans that outline the actions to be taken in the coming year to achieve best practice. Each of the four local workplans is developed by local stakeholders in conjunction with the Regional Stroke Network Team and provides specific direction for local health professionals in each geographic area. The Regional Stroke Network Team develops a regional workplan that supports the direction of the local area plans. The Regional Stroke Steering Committee and its subcommittees oversee the implementation of these plans.

• SEO Regional Stroke Best Practice Workplan 2023-25 (Excel)
• SEO Regional Stroke Best Practice Workplan 2023-25 (presentation)
• Acute, Rehab and Stroke Flow Logic Model
• Community Reintegration Logic Model
• Vascular Health Logic Model

Support for the implementation of a systems-wide Stroke Network is made possible due to a funded infrastructure and an education budget. The funded infrastructure includes the program staff who work with those providing stroke care throughout the region to help meet their local care-delivery needs. The education budget enables the program to provide educational opportunities such as workshops to help address best-practice educational needs. This funded education program provides an incentive to build interest and to develop champions in stroke care.

The Stroke Network planning and educational activities have engaged people working across the continuum of stroke care: primary care providers, emergency and acute care staff and rehabilitation, community and long-term-care personnel.

The Regional Acute Stroke Protocol was developed in 1999 as an organized system response to provide equitable access to time-dependent stroke therapies (rtPA) for residents of Southeastern Ontario. It was the first regional response system for stroke in Canada. When a patient with symptoms of stroke dials 911, paramedics are dispatched as a priority Code 4 ("Lights and Sirens"). If pre-defined criteria are met, paramedics are authorized to bypass the closest hospital and redirect the patient to the Stroke Centre for assessment and, if appropriate, treatment with rtPA.

Once a patient has been assessed and treated at the Stroke Centre, he or she is repatriated to the appropriate community hospital. This process required the development of regional repatriation agreements between the Stroke Centres and the other acute hospitals of the region.

The development, implementation and ongoing management of the Acute Stroke Protocol has involved partnerships with many key organizations across Southeastern Ontario. These include: the Kingston Central Ambulance Communications Centre (dispatch), the Regional Paramedic Program of Eastern Ontario (for paramedic training), all ambulance services and hospital sites across the region, the Regional Stroke Centre (Kingston Health Sciences Centre-KGH) and District Stroke Centre (QHC-Belleville). For information on the Stroke Protocol Processes (inclusion/exclusion criteria, repatriation) please contact the Regional Stroke Office at 613-549-6666 ext 3562. Please see "Emergency Stroke Care: How are we doing?" for a current update.

A person who experiences a stroke is more likely to survive, recover and return home when early stroke care is provided by a specialized team in an Acute Stroke Unit. Acute Stroke Care across Southeastern Ontario has been consolidated to three Stroke Units in Belleville for Hastings and Prince Edward Counties, Kingston for Kingston, Frotenanc, Lennox & Addington Counties, Brockville for Lanark, Leeds and Grenville Counties.

For clinic mandate and contact information see Stroke Prevention Clinics.

As part of its mandate, the Stroke Network of Southeastern Ontario facilitates system change to improve timely access to the appropriate intensity of rehabilitation services. The Southeast Stroke Network supports the implementation of best practices in stroke rehabilitation through a holistic, cross-continuum approach. Key foci include advancing a common approach to initial triage, practice standards, standardized referral processes, and access to timely assessment and rehab intervention. Regional rehabilitation objectives include building strong links to primary and secondary prevention programs and dissemination of stroke best practices through ongoing professional education, building capacity in stroke expertise and supporting interprofessional collaboration.

The Community Stroke Rehabilitation Program has been provided to new stroke survivors in Southeastern Ontario since February 2009 with the launch of an innovative LHIN-funded service.  This service is delivered through the SE LHIN Home and Community Care and provides increased intensity of Occupational Therapy, Phystiotherapy, Speech Language Pathology and Social Work.  In April 2011, the SE LHIN committed to supporting the service as a regional standard of stroke care in support of best practice.  The rationale for this funding was that the program had demonstrated its critical role in both improving stroke survivors' functional outcomes and improving health system utilization.

Community Support Services and Long Term Care Homes are supported in the implementation and sustaining of best practice stroke care through resources, educational supports and regional learning collaboratives. Community Stroke Survivor and Caregiver Support Groups and Community-Based Stroke Specific Exercise Programs are available in Perth, Brockville, Kingston and Belleville.