IHCAM Celebrates a Successful AGM with New Leadership and Inspiring Keynote Address

The Interfaith Healthcare Association of Manitoba (IHCAM) recently held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on November 13th, gathering members from across the province. The event celebrated the organization’s accomplishments over the past year and set an ambitious vision for the future. This year’s AGM was particularly momentous, with the announcement of new leadership and a thought-provoking keynote address by a leading voice in spiritual health.

Welcoming New Leadership

The AGM ushered in a new era for IHCAM with the appointment of Abednigo Mandalupa (CEO, Park Manor PCH) as Chair and Angela Peeler (CEO, Holy Family Home) as Treasurer.

Outgoing leaders were celebrated for their dedication and contributions, leaving the organization in a strong position for continued growth.

Keynote Address by Doug Longstaffe

The highlight of the AGM was the keynote speech delivered by Doug Longstaffe, Director of Spiritual Health and Multicultural Services at Vancouver Coastal Health. His address, "The Role of Spiritual Care in Humanizing Healthcare," captivated attendees and reinforced the importance of integrating spiritual health into all aspects of patient care.

Key points from Doug’s address included:

1. Holistic Healthcare: The inclusion of spiritual care is essential for treating the whole person—body, mind, and spirit.
2. Diversity and Inclusivity: Multicultural and interfaith approaches to spiritual care are crucial in a diverse healthcare landscape.
3. Advocacy for Resources: Doug shared strategies for securing funding and support for spiritual health practitioners, offering valuable insights for Manitoba’s healthcare context.

The full transcript of Doug Longstaffe’s keynote speech:

Good morning. I'll try to do my best today. I kind of have an open canvas here, so I might go in a few different directions. I was talking with Gladys who was very sweet, and we tried to figure out what might resonate best with you, so I'll do my best. I just want to say I was involved in multifaceted circles – I was on the Catholic Health Board as sort of an honourary Catholic back then, what was it, the 1990s, early 2000s. Wilmar was there then, and Bob Gerard, some of you might remember him, and they were good people. I enjoyed working with them.

My heart is in Manitoba in many ways because I grew up there, so I think what you are doing, or whatever leadership role you have, is extremely important. You have a huge impact on the organization and the people who work with you. I'll sort of go through that from the perspective of what I've seen as a spiritual health practitioner and as the director of spiritual care in several places. I've been a direct report to some amazing people, like Vivian Eliopoulos, CEO, here at Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, who is an incredible leader. I don’t say that lightly – she truly is an amazing individual. Her leadership makes a real difference right up to the front lines. The result has been our achieving top 100 Canadian Employer standing.

Part of my role has often been to serve as an advisor to people in positions of power about matters that others might not be able to address in quite the same way. My background as a minister in the United Church of Canada allowed me to understand what it was like to lead an organization, even if it was a church, and to work with a board and volunteers. This experience gives one a certain empathy for those in power, and a sense of the weight they carry, which sparked my interest in organizational development.

My involvement in politics outside of my professional work has at times been party-based but the most important political context for me crosses over all party lines as it is about humanizing institutions. Just as Vancouver Coastal Health focused on values, and was named a top 100 employer in Canada, so too did Seven Oaks Hospital in Winnipeg achieve such standing, when I served under the leadership of CEO Mark Neskar. Thus, I know from personal experience that each of you has a tremendous opportunity. So, what makes you folks special? You are both ordinary and special at the same time. The great psychoanalyst Alfred Adler emphasized that we are ‘all ordinary and ever special,’ and that’s true of you as well. You each represent a religious body and a governing body, unless things have changed. You’re leading communities, rooted in religion, and religion has many rules as well as a kind of bureaucracy of its own. That part is kind of ordinary. But within all that, there’s also an opportunity for the development of community within the institutions and that is indeed special.

Each of you has employees who rely on you to guide them in serving the mission of your organization. As leaders, you’re tasked with thinking about politics – both big P politics and small p politics. For instance, I’ve been talking recently with my program team about the state of American politics and its impact on patient and staff mental well-being. People are worried, and it’s affecting Canadian organizations. That’s a relevant area of spiritual health for us. Spending time with leaders over many years as a direct report has shown me how much leaders value understanding the real pulse of the organization, at all times, but especially during times of challenge.

If you have spiritual health practitioners on your team, I encourage you to discuss the ethos of the organization with them and ask their perspective on what’s happening on the ground. Spiritual health practitioners are uniquely positioned to offer insights into the ‘esprit de corps’ and community within the organization. They have a perspective on what’s being lived out and whether the values of the organization are truly being reflected.

Your work touches on many things, such as the connection between religion, community, and spirituality. Religion has teachings that might differ from one to the next, but when it comes to care, what matters is how values guide the way. You’re not leading a religious school, you’re not teaching doctrine, but rather aiming to reflect spiritually inspired values through actions in your institution. When someone walks into a Catholic hospital, a Baptist long-term care center, or whatever faith-based organization it might be, they should sense a distinct atmosphere, an approach driven by values.

So, let your spiritual health practitioners support you in fostering that, in building community and addressing spirituality in a way that impacts the ground level – where nurses work with patients, where decisions are made with healthcare teams. Having a philosophy, or a theology, especially in healthcare, is essential because what you believe about systems affects the care you provide. Systems naturally trend towards dehumanization, so there’s a need to counterbalance that with the humanization that comes through community. Systems can provide medical services but only people can form healing communities of care within institutions.

And remember, you have something distinctly valuable. In British Columbia, for instance, other health authorities are often compared with Providence, a Catholic healthcare network. Providence Health frequently rates highly in government surveys because people feel well-treated there. Every political party must ask if something is cost-effective, popular, and the right thing to do. Faith-based healthcare often meets all three: it’s cost-effective, popular, and the right thing to do. This approach is often well-liked, even by those outside any faith tradition, because people sense that values matter within those institutions.

There’s a humanizing effect you all bring to the system, an antidote to the tendency of institutions to dehumanize. People don’t want to feel like just a number. Faith-based healthcare provides choice in a culturally diverse environment, and people appreciate having that option alongside non-faith-sponsored organizations, also capable of being values-based and humanizing. There is a need and room for both.

I’ll close with this: your spiritual care practitioners are leaders. They should see themselves as leaders within each hospital or long-term care center, having power not only to provide care but also to advance the mission. I’m so glad some of you did not give up your boards when pressures came years ago. Boards offer a perspective beyond the bureaucracy – they remind us of the raison d’etre of the community. Your Spiritual Care Practitioners can do much to advance the mission of your boards because they are people who understand the relationship between a philosophy or a theology and care delivery. Also, as people steeped in a values-based relational approach to care, they know how to foster the community needed to actualize the mission.

Recently, a CEO of a large health authority told chaplains at a national convention of spiritual care practitioners “Be bold, we need your voice.’ This is where your work is essential. You have a unique vantage point to advocate for care that matters deeply to individuals at very poignant moments in their lives. This makes your work quite sacred.

For a comprehensive overview of IHCAM’s achievements and initiatives over the past year, please visit ihcam.ca to access the complete 2023-2024 Annual Report.

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