About QARC
Our vision
The overall vision of QARC is to deliver solutions that optimise the lives of people with aphasia. It will bring together people with aphasia, their family members and friends with all key stakeholders including clinicians, researchers, support groups, professional groups and consumer advocacy groups.
What is aphasia?
Aphasia is a chronic disability that affects a person’s ability to to talk, understand what is being said to them, read information, and write. For example, when at the supermarket, a person with aphasia might have difficulty:
- reading and understanding labels and information on products,
- asking for assistance in finding things as they are unable to say the words that they want to use and/or put the words together in a sentence,
- understanding what the shop assistant is saying to them (almost as though the shop assistant is speaking in another language that makes no sense to them),
- being able to complete the purchase due to difficulty in reading and understanding the checkout display.
Aphasia can have a devastating impact on a person and their family and friends.
Aphasia: facts and figures
- Each year in Australia, 22,800 individuals have a new or recurring stroke and suffer from aphasia. Of these, 60% will still be aphasic 12 months later.
- More than 140,000 people are currently living with aphasia in Australia. This number is expected to increase to over 300,000 people living with aphasia by the year 2050 (of the 1 million stroke survivors).
- 30% of stroke survivors are of working age (under 65).
- Aphasia is more common than many other well known conditions, including Parkinson’s disease (81,000*), cerebral palsy (34,000*), and multiple sclerosis (25,600*).
*estimates for current numbers in Australia
Objectives
The overall objectives:
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Develop a designated centre that meets the needs of people with aphasia and their family. |
"Nothing for us, without us". People with aphasia and their family are the experts who will drive priorities and approaches to service delivery and research. QARC will be co-designed with consumers and engage expert advisory groups to ensure our outcomes are meaningful and have maximum impact. |
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Develop and deliver effective treatments for people with aphasia in hospital, community, and home settings. |
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Develop new approaches for treating aphasia that maximise access, increase communication outcomes and decrease costs |
Through QARC, people with aphasia will have access to:
QARC will deliver CHAT (Comprehensive High-dose Aphasia Treatment) and Tele-CHAT programs. |
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Provide innovative and effective solutions for aphasia recovery and services. |
QARC will lead and support trials of innovative solutions for aphasia recovery and the provision of therapy including:
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Enable access to technology for people with aphasia. |
QARC will provide training for people with aphasia to use new technology and support for clinicians on technology and software options for patients. The Aphasia Tech Hub will provide tailored support for people with aphasia. Technology options and software solutions will be available to trials and to loan. People will be able to loan equipment to trial. Advice and support will be provided on different programs and applications. |
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Enable a platform for increased collaborations between clinicians and researchers. |
QARC will work with clinicians to develop and conduct local research that is relevant to individual health services. QARC will provide advice on aphasia rehabiliation services. Workshops, seminars and work shadowing will be offered to clinicians and other health professionals. The QARC Clinical Forum - a community of practice - will be guided by clinicians in how to support translation of research evidence into practice. |
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Provide a centre of clinical and academic expertise to support student and health professional education and training. |
QARC will offer student learning opportunities to broaden students' experiences of aphasia rehabilitation. QARC will support real world experiences that students can translate into future practices. It will expose students to a range of technology and software solutions for aphasia. |
Ultimately, the centre will optimise the independence and quality of life for people with aphasia and their family members and friends and aims to significantly reduce depression, social isolation and the burden of stroke that is felt by people with aphasia and their family and friends.
The establishment of QARC has been made possible by generous donations from the Bowness Family Foundation and an anonymous donor.Partnerships
STARS Education and Research Alliance
Metro North Hospital and Health Service (MNHHS) and The University of Queensland have signed a 20-year partnership to integrate clinical care, education and training, and research at the Surgical, Treatment and Rehabilitation Service (STARS).This strategic partnership with MNHHS as the clinical lead and UQ as the academic lead and sole academic partner, has the vision of:
- translating excellent clinical education and world-leading research into service delivery throughout the new facility
- driving cutting edge service innovation and technologies particularly in providing person-centred interprofessional care for patients
- establishing STARS as the first choice for complex rehabilitation patients from across Australia and the Asia-Pacific region
- establishing the STARS services at the STARS facility as a ‘magnet’ for attracting the employment and collaboration of leading clinicians, researchers and educationalists from across the globe.
About STARS
The Surgical, Treatment and Rehabilitation Service (STARS) is a new specialist public health facility for Metro North Hospital and Health Service (MNHHS).
Located at the Herston Health Precinct, STARS will be part of a collaborative community home to more than 30 health facilities, medical research institutes, universities and organisations. The Precinct is made up of 13,000 clinical and non-clinical staff, scientists, researchers and students, working together to deliver excellence in health.
STARS will provide a range of new and expanded healthcare services to:
- Increase access to geriatric and specialist rehabilitation services, elective surgery and endoscopy services
- Meet the growing demand for specialist rehabilitation services
- Reduce the number of sub-acute rehabilitation patients being treated in acute beds
- Ensure more patients have access to services within clinically recommended timeframes
- Reduce patient wait times for specialist rehabilitation and elective surgery and endoscopy services.
With 100 beds for rehabilitation, STARS is one of the largest specialist rehabilitation services in the southern hemisphere.
STARS Healthcare services:
The Surgical, Treatment and Rehabilitation Service (STARS) is a 182-bed standalone public health facility to increase access to specialist rehabilitation services, elective surgery and endoscopy procedural services, and outpatient services.
Australian Aphasia Association (AAA)
The Australian Aphasia Association (AAA) is a not-for-profit support and advocacy association and registered charity for people with aphasia, their families, and the professionals who help them. The AAA was established in 2000 and supports families and members from all states and territories across Australia.
The AAA offers online aphasia groups (via Zoom), supports aphasia community groups, hosts an online discussion board and a two yearly conference. They develop and distribute resources for people with aphasia and clinicians and advocate for people with aphasia at local, state and federal level.
Professor Linda Worrall, Chair of the AAA, is on the QARC Advisory Committee. QARC Consumer Advisory Group member, Bruce Aisthorpe, is also a member of the AAA Executive team.
Dr Jess Campbell (QARC postdoctoral researcher), Dr Sarah Wallace (NHMRC Emerging Leaders Fellow and QARC Operations team member) and Dr Brooke Ryan are involved in AAA services and initiatives.
Centre for Research Excellence in Aphasia Rehabilitation and Recovery (Aphasia CRE)
The Centre for Research Excellence in Aphasia Rehabilitation and Recovery (Aphasia CRE) is a national research centre based at La Trobe University including researchers from a number of Australian universities including The University of Queensland.
Led by Professor Miranda Rose, the Aphasia CRE aims to transform the health and wellbeing of people with aphasia and their families through research that leads to enhanced, cost-effective and sustainable interdisciplinary aphasia rehabilitation and community services.
QARC is working together with the Aphasia CRE on a number of projects including a Comprehensive High-dose Aphasia Therapy treatment over the internet (Tele-CHAT), the development of a minimum dataset for aphasia, and neurobiological and psychosocial predictors of aphasia recovery and treatment response.
Metro North Hospital and Health Services:
Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital:
- Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology
- Dr Kana Appadurai, Director of Geriatric and Rehabilitation Services
Community and Oral Health – Department of Speech Pathology
Caboolture and Kilcoy Hospitals – Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology
Redcliffe Hospital – Department of Speech Pathology
The Prince Charles Hospital – Department of Speech Pathology
Acknowledgements
QARC would like to acknowledge staff at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (RBWH) for their contributions to the conceptualisation, planning and development of the Queensland Aphasia Research Centre.
In particular, we would like to acknowledge:
- Peter Buttrum - Executive Director of Allied Health Professionals
- Dr Kana Appadurai - Director of Geriatric and Rehabilitation Services
- The RBWH Speech Pathology team including:
- Lynell Bassett - Director of Speech Pathology and Audiology
- Dr Anna Farrell - Team Leader (Neurorehabilitation) and Research coordinator
- Penni Burfein - Advanced Speech Pathologist, Geriatric Assessment and Rehabilitation Unit (GARU)
