{"id":228075,"date":"2025-06-17T11:15:35","date_gmt":"2025-06-17T15:15:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/?p=228075"},"modified":"2025-06-30T09:18:08","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T13:18:08","slug":"from-survivor-to-supporter-peer-volunteers-bring-hope-to-patients-recovering-from-stroke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/healthy-tomorrows\/from-survivor-to-supporter-peer-volunteers-bring-hope-to-patients-recovering-from-stroke\/","title":{"rendered":"From survivor to supporter: Peer volunteers bring hope to patients recovering from stroke"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cEvery time I volunteer, my heart feels so full,\u201d beams Kim, right before paying her weekly visit to patients at our Civic Campus.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

In the early days after a stroke, the road ahead can seem overwhelming for both patients and their loved ones. Having support from someone who\u2019s walked that path can make a world of difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI had a stroke about 12 years ago in Whitby,\u201d recalls Kim Docherty-Smith. \u201cDuring my hospital stay, a man named Ken came to visit me and my husband. He had also experienced a stroke and had recovered. It was just nice to know someone who had been through the same thing and went on to live a fulfilling life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Kim is paying that kindness forward. As a volunteer with March of Dimes Canada\u2019s After Stroke Hospital Peer Connections program at The Ottawa Hospital, she visits our inpatients who have experienced a recent stroke. With warmth and empathy, she offers them and their loved ones encouragement and emotional support, helping to make the recovery journey a little easier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spreading hope across the Champlain region<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In late 2024, the Champlain Regional Stroke Network at The Ottawa Hospital, in partnership with March of Dimes Canada, introduced the After Stroke Hospital Peer Connections Program at our hospital, as well as at Bruy\u00e8re Health, Cornwall Community Hospital and Pembroke Regional Hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like Kim, every volunteer understands the challenges and triumphs of life after a stroke. To empower patients and their families during this critical time in their lives, volunteers draw on their own lived experiences as either stroke survivors or caregivers of survivors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSometimes, a little bit of hope is what they need,\u201d says Kim. \u201cA lot of the time, patients just need to know you\u2019re there \u2014 it makes them feel better to just have someone in the room who\u2019s been through what they\u2019re going through. And for families, when they see someone who\u2019s pulled through, that gives them hope too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Find support<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If you know someone staying at our hospital who has recently experienced a stroke and could benefit from peer support, please contact the stroke unit\u2019s social worker for more details and to arrange a visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Give support<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Together, we can make the journey to recovery a little less overwhelming and a lot more hopeful. If you have lived experience as a stroke survivor or as a caregiver of someone who has had a stroke, the After Stroke Hospital Peer Connections program welcomes you to apply to become a peer volunteer<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Drawing on their own lived experiences as stroke survivors or caregivers, volunteers with March of Dimes Canada\u2019s After Stroke Hospital Peer Connections program offer emotional support to those just beginning their recovery journey. Discover the difference they\u2019re making and learn about how you can request support for a loved one \u2014 or become a beacon of hope yourself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":228076,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[483,408,184],"class_list":["post-228075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-healthy-tomorrows","tag-patients-as-partners","tag-stroke","tag-volunteers"],"acf":[],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}