Christy Campbell first learned about Aphasia after she suffered a stroke at age 31. Her speech and language were affected, and she needed help to recover. Christy visited an aphasia camp in Oregon that inspired her to establish a similar camp closer to home, in BC.
To help organize this camp, Christy contacted Dr. Barbara Purves, a speech-language pathologist and Associate Professor in the UBC School of Audiology and Speech Sciences. Their first course of action was to initiate a partnership with the College of Health Disciplines and Howe Sound Rehabilitation Services Society (now known as Strive Living Society)—two organizations with complementary expertise in inter professional education and community-based aphasia support, respectively.
With the addition of other partners to round out the camp’s staff and expertise, BC’s first aphasia camp was born in 2010. In 2015, March of Dimes Canada joined the camp as a full partner. The Sea-to-Sky Aphasia Camp is a weekend-long camp held every year in September. It brings together people with aphasia, their families, and health care students to explore meaningful approaches to aphasia management.
Each year, the camp brings together up to 35 students from health professions as diverse as speech-language pathology, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, nursing, and medicine to expand their understanding of aphasia and bring a new perspective to aphasia care. Students are guided by experienced health professionals and paired with camp attendees as they work together in multidisciplinary groups to lead activities that are specially adapted for participants with aphasia.
This collaboration provides direct and diverse care to people with aphasia while expanding the education of future health professionals.
Watch the video to find out more about living with aphasia from Christy Campbell and Sean Standing.