Centre for Education and Research on Aging & Health
May 2023
On May 1, the Women's Executive Network (WXN) announced the
2023 Canadian Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Award recipients, and CERAH staff person Holly Prince, Lead of the Indigenous Peoples' Aging & Health Division at CERAH is the recipient of the Inclusion Vanguard Award. The Inclusion Vanguard is a champion for change who has made a profound and measurable impact, bettering the experience of their colleagues and counterparts and a broader community of clients and contacts. This award honours one self-identifying female Canadian leader who has made a thoughtful and appreciable impact on diversity and inclusion. Nominees are judged based on the distinct and describable difference they make to the equity, diversity and inclusion agendas within their workplace and the broader community; how they act as role models to showcase and shape behaviours and outcomes that support equity, diversity and inclusion; how they seek and consider different perspectives; and how they have had a measurable impact on equity, diversity and inclusion at the local, regional, national and international levels.

Please join us in congratulating Holly on this well-deserved award!
CERAH Resources
By Us For Us guides are a series of resources created by people living with dementia and their care partners designed to provide them with the necessary tools to enhance their well-being and manage daily challenges. The guides are also great for those working in the field of dementia, and senior's health. If your organization would like to place an order, click the button below. Thanks to St. Joseph's Care Group, the guides are available free of charge.
May 10, 2023 1:00 - 2:30 pm (EST)
Have you attended a Palliative Care for Front-Line Workers in Indigenous Communities workshop? If so, you might be interested in continuing the discussion in this 1.5 hour interactive webinar: Supporting Someone in their Health Care Journey: How to get started*, facilitated by Jill Marcella, SW and a regional champion for Hospice Palliative Care Ontario’s Health Care Consent and Advance Care Planning.

* This session will be most relevant to people living and working in Ontario.
May 23, 2023 12:00 - 12:45 pm (EST)
Join us on May 23rd for a CERAH Speaker Series presentation entitled Creating Culturally Safe-r
Palliative Care Education for Indigenous Communities with presenters Holly Prince, Jessica Wyatt, and Kassandra Fernandes.

This session will provide an overview of a suite of newly created curricula and resources developed at the Centre for Education and Research on Aging & Health, Lakehead University, in partnership with Elders, Indigenous organizations, scholars and health and social care providers.

These tools recognize the diversity of Indigenous communities' experiences, knowledge, and cultural teachings regarding health, caregiving, dying and death. As a result, the content is not grounded in any Indigenous community's practice or knowledge. Instead, concepts from the Indigenous Wellness Framework are integrated with palliative care and chronic disease management with the goal being to provide a wholistic foundation for understanding health and balance while also being inclusive of cultural and spiritual practices.
October 3 - 5, 2023

We are excited to announce another keynote speaker joining us for our in-person Northwestern Ontario Palliative Care Conference - Dr. Jeff Myers!

Our conference theme is Navigating the Journey Together: Providing Care for Ourselves & Others. We look forward to (re)connecting at our first in-person conference event since 2019.

Save the dates!
Early-bird registration will open later this spring.
Caring Connections Chronicle...
Walk for Alzheimer's - In-Person!
The Alzheimer Society of Thunder Bay will host the IG Wealth Management Walk for Alzheimer's in person Saturday May 27th in person at Prince Arthur's Landing. Over 2,900 individuals in the Thunder Bay community are living with dementia. All proceeds raised stay local to the community!
12th Annual Hike for Hospice
On May 26-28, hundreds of hikers will be walking in support of hospice palliative care at Boulevard Lake, or their preferred location!
This year's theme is Hike to Remember, Hike to Support. The walk has a three fold purpose: to raise awareness of Hospice Northwest programs and services; to raise funds; but most importantly, offer a meaningful way to remember the important people who have died.
Other Resources...
For Informal Care Providers
Supporting a Circle of Care: Creating a Circle of Care for Caregivers a 40-page toolkit from the Native Women’s Association of Canada.

Topics included: Self-Care, Understanding your loved ones needs, Recognizing you are not alone, Supports and services for caregivers, After caregiving ends, and Creating a circle of care (support group).
National Hospice Palliative Care Week 2023: Palliative Care Everywhere - May 7-13, 2023

Palliative care is person-centered care. That means, in part, that wherever there is a person with a life-limiting illness – palliative care can be provided. Regardless of the setting of care, regardless of a person’s illness or prognosis, regardless of their postal code, if someone is facing significant health-related suffering because of a life-limiting illness – palliative care can help.

Let's demand more
No one wants to need palliative care. When they do need it, everyone should be able to access palliative care everywhere. Because palliative care is health care.

There aren’t enough trained professionals, too few volunteers, and too little funding to provide Palliative Care Everywhere to everyone who needs it. Join CHPCA in advocating for better access to hospice palliative care for Canadians from coast to coast to coast.
Tuesday, May 23, 2023
2:00 pm to 3:00 pm (EST)

Diabetes Jeopardy
Join this webinar and play a game that will help you learn more about diabetes. Topics will include signs and symptoms, nutrition, complications, types and know the numbers. Everyone welcome!
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National Nursing Week: Our Nurses. Our Future. May 8 - 14, 2023
National Nursing Week draws attention to nurses, increasing the awareness of the public, policy-makers and governments of the many contributions of nursing to the well-being of Canadians. The theme this year showcases the many roles that nurses play in a patient’s health-care journey. The pandemic brought to light the courage and commitment that nurses work under every day and showed the important role that nurses play in the community.

CERAH wishes to acknowledge our appreciation for the many nurses that we have the privilege of working with. Be sure to thank a nurse, or many, this week.

Visit the Canadian Nurses Association for ideas to commemorate.
For Health & Social Care Providers
Palliative Care Tik Tok with Hospice Nurse Julie
Topic: Rally vs. Getting Better

In this tik tok video, Julie talks about patients that are at their end-of-life, they get better for a few days, and then they suddenly die. Click to watch the video!
Palliative care messages with Dr. Samantha Winemaker - CERAH’s Keynote Speaker for 2023 NWO Palliative Care Conference.

Each month we will highlight one of Dr. Winemaker’s palliative care messages. 

This month: Hospice?
CIHI Report on Access to Palliative Care 2023
The Canadian Institute for Health Information's first report on palliative care was released in 2018. With the release of the 2023 report we look at what has changed in the last 5 years in the state of palliative care in Canada to understand what patients and caregivers are experiencing and what gaps in access still remain.

The report shows an increase in the number of people receiving palliative care, as well as the number of those receiving the support they need to die at home. While this is good news, the report also shows that there is still much work to be done. Many are receiving palliative care later than is optimal. Many others, particularly those from underserved populations, still have inadequate access to palliative care.
In the news...
Digital Connection
Podcast: Disrupting Death
Disrupting Death: conversations about Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada. Hosts, Kathy Kortes-Miller and Keri-Lyn Durant lead with curiosity as they interview a wide range of guests who know M.A.i.D intimately.

Our podcast often features people living with dementia, their care/life partners, and supporters sharing experiences. Through the interviews, guests demonstrate their capacity to live fully. Other episodes include conversations with researchers and advocates.

Stay up to date with the latest episodes!
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Connect with Us!
Contact us if you have any questions about our resources or upcoming events. We are also interested in aging and health news from your region, so please keep in touch!
955 Oliver Road, Balmoral Street Centre
Thunder Bay, ON P7B 5E1
(807) 343-8010 ext. 7271