Summer 2024 Newsletter

CDB Update
Formal documents have been distributed requesting feedback. As you can see the major sticking points are the maximum annual amount of $2400 only received if your annual income is less than $23 000 annual income AND you qualify for the Disability Tax Credit (DTC).

https://www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p1/2024/2024-06-29/html/reg2-eng.html#

Speakers
On June 28 David Greenshileds shared with us his years of experience teaching Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction as an effective tool to calm our minds through formal and informal practice. He offers a free weekly class through BC Brain Wellness. As it is funded through UBC it is limited to BC residents only…ho hum!

On July 25 Karen Tyrell joined us to share with us her years of experience counselling stroke survivors and their caregivers. Her profound seeds of wisdom were:
ME time
Talk things out
Never stop learning

Advocacy Update
Our executive team met with policy managers of Mark Holland, the federal health minister, to strike a committee of stroke survivors, medical professionals, and organizations who support stroke survivors, to establish a set of standards for post stroke care across Canada modelled after the Canadian Stroke Best Practices developed by the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

SSAGC JULY 9 Holland mtg

Less than a year ago we met with Alistair McGregor, an NDP MP, in support of
Bill 277. To our surprise the Bill has succeeded in completing a second unanimous vote in the House of Commons going to the Senate for approval. Upon approval it returns to the House of Commons for third and final reading.

BC Rehabilitation and Recovery has completed its research, headed by Jeff Sommers, on the needs of people in BC in need of of support beyond the medical setting. They are preparing to launch laws to implement the required changes in regulations. Stroke rehabilitation and recovery is a big part of this with John Richmond and Bruce Young on the committee to present our findings to MLAs throughout BC.

Fundraising

Linda Kirwin is in conversation with major universities with whom many of us have done research projects with their graduate students. We are talking with their supervisors to identify funding sources. As well we have connected with a gourmet coffee company who is interested in fundraising across Canada. They are sending us coffee samples to try.

At a lunchtime meeting on July 15 with Carla Qualtrough, MP for North Delta (Bruce’s riding), and author of the Canadian Disability Benefit she promised and has delivered on a set of government funding sources which Linda Kirwin will follow up on.

Road to Nonprofit

John Richmond is our lead for us to become a national not for profit organization. The challenge is to meet the incorporation criteria for across the country.

Website

Sincere thanks to Mike Dewing and Andy Sharp for rebuilding our website from scratch. Check it out….

Transformational Moment
My first podcast brought everything together for me. I happened upon Bill Gaasiamis who was interviewing Dr Michael Merzenich, creator of BrainHQ, an app my son gave me one year after my stroke. Bill had written a book The unexpected way that a STROKE became the BEST THING THAT HAPPENED which I immediately bought. It described me and gave me purpose for why I helped create Stroke Survivors Advocacy Group of Canada. So here I am working to change the lives of fellow stroke survivors across Canada.

Bruce