Meet Angie Cauthorne, a two-time stroke survivor and host of the Brain Friends podcast as she shares with Nurse Rosa Hart about gaps in stroke and aphasia aftercare and the community-based solutions she has built.
Angie describes developing aphasia after working in finance and realizing survivors are discharged medically stable but unprepared to navigate recovery. She shares her work as co-founder and president of the Aphasia Resource Collaboration Hub (ARCH), the R.O.S.A. symposium (Resource Orientation for Stroke and Aphasia) convening at Temple University - now in its fifth year -with panels, keynotes, and activities like line dancing, plus quarterly Science of Aphasia sessions. Angie also discusses creating an Aphasia Fantasy Football League to reduce isolation through shared interests. Both explore scaling these models and answer a “$1B grant” question, emphasizing standardized post-discharge navigation, community access, survivor-centered research, early stroke recognition, improved EMS, vocational rehab awareness, and the non-linear reality of stroke recovery.