Michelle L. Nelson ^1,2* Evan MacEachern ¹ Marianne Saragosa ^1,2

• ¹ Sinai Health System, Mount Sinai Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
• ² University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Stroke systems of care are grappling with pressures to ensure that services are high quality, evidence informed, person-centred with an emphasis on safe and timely discharge to the person's home and community. Literature describing the need for robust stroke systems has focused on services within the health care system, which are predominantly hospital-based, guided by the Medical Model. However, given the long-term nature of stroke recovery and the importance of attending to the challenges of resuming a meaningful life post-stroke, the involvement of community organizations becomes paramount in providing longer-term support. This perspective paper explores the engagement of 'community' within the context of stroke systems of care. It proposes that the community is both a destination of the pathway and a partner that can help address the ongoing and often unmet needs experienced post-discharge. Through these partnerships and collaborations, we suggest that community organizations can fill service gaps; volunteers could be leveraged to expand the breadth and quality of health and social services to meet the needs of stroke survivors and their families.