Stroke Foundation funding to help Indigenous and elderly Australians

SAHMRI projects that aim to deliver better preventative and ongoing stroke care for Indigenous and elderly Australians have received funding from the latest Stroke Foundation Research Grants Program round.

Dr Stephanie Harrison from the SAHMRI-based Registry of Senior Australians has been awarded almost $80,000 in EMCR Seed Funding, while Aboriginal Health Equity researcher Dr Katharine McBride earned a Future Leader Grant of almost $14,000.

Dr Harrison’s project – The Equitable Access to Support for Everyone after Stroke (EASEStroke) study: Investigating access to long-term community support for older Australians post-stroke – will examine the long-term care older people in Australia receive after stroke and determine factors which might impact the types of long-term care they receive.

“Australians who are 65 and over are not eligible for National Disability Insurance Scheme services,” Dr Harrison said.

“Therefore, following stroke, older Australians rely on long-term support delivered through primary care and aged care. This study will be useful to tailor ongoing reforms in primary care and aged care aimed at improving long-term support for older people after stroke. The project will also inform the development of larger grant applications.”

Dr McBride says her grant will promote the delivery of evidence-based, culturally responsive stroke health care by working in inter-cultural partnerships and strengthening capacity of Aboriginal health professionals.

“This funding from the Stroke Foundation will support Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal researchers to work with Māori and Pasifika researchers in Aotearoa New Zealand to observe collaborative research in practice and develop a plan for our co-design research with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Australia,” she said.

The Executive Director of Stroke Services and Research at the Stroke Foundation, Dr Tope Adepoyibi, says these grants are part of more than $600,000 that have been shared to improve the lives of survivors of stroke.

“Each one of these research projects targets specific and very serious challenges faced by the stroke community and will go a long way in enhancing stroke rehabilitation, delivery of care and support,” Dr Adepoyibi said.