Wendy Blackburn
Wendy is a nurse practitioner with over 30 years experience working with patients and clients with brain and spinal injuries and other neurological disorders. Her experience spans the health care spectrum from critical care to rehabilitation to the community.
Her education and experience has provided her with many employment opportunities including St. Michael’s Hospital Trauma Program in Toronto, University Hospital Neurosurgical Program in London, the Trauma Program at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto, the Brain Injury Program at Parkwood Hospital and DMARehability in London.
Wendy strongly believes in life long learning and the sharing of knowledge. Wendy has taught Neurosciences at the college level for almost 25 years and continues to do so throughout the year. Wendy has traveled to Palestine on behalf of Mohawk College, Hamilton, to share her expertise and ideas on building and sustaining a critical care treatment unit for clients afflicted with life threatening neurological injuries.
She is very experienced in managing disruptive behaviours typically seen in clients who have sustained an acquired brain injury and utilizes these same principles when assisting the team at The Stepping Stone to devise a behavioural management plan for our clients when necessary.
She works with clients, their families and members of the client’s team to promote health, maximize recovery and optimize function. She provides support, education and guidance to the staff at The Stepping Stone for the provision of care to our more medically fragile clients.
With a master’s in education she has experience teaching at the College level and is able to provide assessment, planning and academic recommendations to the programming and team at The Stepping Stone.
Education
Nursing diploma (RN) | George Brown College |
Neuroscience post-graduate certificate | McGill University |
Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSCN) | Ryerson University |
Master’s of Education (M. Ed) | Central Michigan University |
Nurse Practitioner Program (NP) | University of Toronto |
Life Care Planning | University of Florida |
Certification
Wendy is a certified Neuroscience Nurse in Canada (CNN (c)) through the Canadian Nurses Association, a certified Rehabilitation Nurse in the United States (CRRN), a certified Adult Nurse Practitioner (NP) in Ontario through the College of Nurses of Ontario and a certified Canadian Life Care Planner (CLCP) through the International Commission on Health Care Certification (ICHCC).
Sue Reaume
Sue is the mother to Stephen, a 22 year old young man with a rare chromosome abnormality. Stephen has difficulty with cognitive, physical and language functions, with a global delay in all activities of daily living and functions.
Having a young adult son with special needs, Sue knows first hand the struggles that families such as hers face everyday. Sue has 22 years of experience in navigating the social, medical and educational systems within the London region. From struggles with respite care, accessing funding, securing transportation, attaining health care that responds appropriately to her adult son who is still a kid at heart and in function, Sue knew early on what she wanted for her son. She knew what kind of program she wanted her son to attend. She knew what she wanted her son to do throughout the day. Having difficulty finding the program that she had envisioned for her son, came the vision for The Stepping Stone.
Sue knew that her son had not stopped learning simply because he finished high school. She wanted more for her son then to color all day. She wanted education to be a significant component of her son’s programming. Sue’s vision for the perfect program for her son became the blueprint for programming at The Stepping Stone.
No one fully understands the challenges that face our clients with special needs and their families like someone who has lived through it, as Sue has. Having a special needs son herself, has provided Sue a true appreciation for the struggles that our families encounter everyday. Sue provides an empathetic ear and has a true understanding of the various issues that challenge our clients and their families. Sue is instrumental in assisting our families to navigate the bureaucratic maze and helping families make sense of the acronym soup, ODSP, CSCN, CCAC, VON, DSO etc.
Sue has always had a dream to create a Centre in which families can bring their children, where they are safe, they can meet new friends and be social, they can continue to learn to the best of their ability and they can continue to build on all the necessary aspects of daily living skills. Sue has brought her vision to life in the creation of The Stepping Stone.
- Autism 2012 Geneva Centre for Autism International Symposium
- Introduction to Asperger Syndrome
- Introduction to Autism Spectrum Disorder
- Applied Behavioral Analysis Certificate Course 2013
- Rehabilitation and Life Care Planning Symposium 2013