Our Mission

To improve communication and quality of life supporting independence and access to community life for adults and their families living with aphasia (and other communication disorders due to stroke, brain injury or brain illness).

Our History

Alan Chamberlain and Margaret Paul met by chance, joined by the needs of both their spouses with aphasia after severe strokes. Together they sought something more to help them adjust to the new realities of life with communication issues and physical disability. Alan provided the spark, Marg the drive, determination and action. Learning from the work of the Speech and Stroke Centre- North York (now the Aphasia Institute), they approached Ruth Patterson, a respected speech language pathologist who enlisted Anne Wells, a social worker, to help bring their vision into reality. The York-Durham Speech and Stroke Centre (now the York-Durham Aphasia Centre) began in the autumn of 1989.

Integral to the new Centre was the team of professional staff and trained volunteers working in a community location. With a structured program encouraging adult choices, clients regained a sense of dignity and learned communication strategies vital to the 'New Life' with aphasia and other communication disorders. Support from Parkview Services for Seniors in Stouffville gave us credibility and a beautiful home base. An initial grant from the Government of Canada seeded these beginnings and led to base funding from the Ontario Ministry of Health. This funding has supported services to hundreds of clients and their families at seven different community locations.

York Durham Aphasia Centre (YDAC) to become a program of March of Dimes Canada

For Immediate Release:
April 1, 2010 – York Region – March of Dimes Canada and the York Durham Aphasia Centre (YDAC) are delighted to announce that as of April 1, 2010, YDAC has become a program of March of Dimes Canada. This merger has proceeded over the past two years with the support of the March of Dimes Canada and YDAC Board of Directors and staff, as well as the Central Local Health Integration Network (CLHIN).

The decision was made to become a program of March of Dimes Canada for a number of reasons, chiefly as a large national agency, March of Dimes can provide YDAC and its consumers with needed administrative infrastructure, human resources, information technology (IT) and finance expertise.

Additionally, being part of March of Dimes will enable YDAC to serve more clients and YDAC clients will also benefit by having easier access to March of Dimes’ variety of programs and services for children and adults with disabilities.

This will also provide March of Dimes with the opportunity to serve more people with communication disabilities more effectively by learning from YDAC’s 20 years of experience, including the development of more “aphasia-friendly” programs.

YDAC will retain its name and office space and continue to run programs for adults with aphasia and related communication disabilities as a program of March of Dimes Canada.

March of Dimes Canada is a nationally registered charitable organization providing support services to people with disabilities, their families and caregivers across Canada.

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For more information please contact:
Art Elliott
YDAC Board Chair
artelliott@sympatico.ca

-or-

Ruth Kapelus
Public Relations Coordinator
March of Dimes Canada
10 Overlea Blvd.
Toronto, ON M4H 1A4
Phone: 416-425-3463 ext. 7254
Toll Free: 1-800-263-3463 ext. 7254
Fax: 416-425-1920
rkapelus@marchofdimes.ca
www.marchofdimes.ca