A Barrie physiotherapist’s newly published research is pushing stroke rehabilitation teams to look beyond a diagnosis and see the unique person behind each patient. Catherine Vingerhoets, the Outpatient Rehabilitation Clinical Team Lead at Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre, led a study that found stroke survivors and families consistently want care that respects their individual values, goals, and life circumstances. Her work, featured this month by the RVH Research Institute, draws on interviews across Canada and New Zealand.
Vingerhoets conducted the doctoral research through the University of Otago in New Zealand as part of her PhD. With 16 years of experience in stroke rehabilitation, she explored how health professionals gather and use personal information about patients. A key finding was that survivors and families emphasized being seen “beyond the surface” — as whole individuals with unique identities and dreams, not just a set of medical symptoms.
Based on those insights, Vingerhoets developed a training program called Getting to Know Our Patients and What Matters. The program helps clinicians in busy rehabilitation settings weave a patient’s values, preferences and daily realities into their care plans. Testing showed the approach is both practical and acceptable for inpatient stroke units, where time and resources are often stretched thin.
The research holds particular relevance for Barrie. RVH operates a 40-bed Integrated Stroke Unit and Rehabilitation Inpatient unit that serves nearly half a million residents across Simcoe County and Muskoka. Vingerhoets says the study’s results, consistent across two very different healthcare systems, reinforce that person-centred care is achievable in local rehabilitation settings. The peer-reviewed findings were published this year in Disability and Rehabilitation.
For families with a loved one in stroke recovery, the message is clear: your voice and your loved one’s story matter. The Getting to Know Our Patients and What Matters framework is designed to make those everyday conversations a routine part of the care plan, from the treatment floor to the family meeting room. Vingerhoets was supervised by Professor Jean Hay-Smith and Associate Professor Fiona Graham of the University of Otago’s Rehabilitation Teaching and Research Unit.
