Ongoing Knowledge Translation
CERAH provides various educational and knowledge translation opportunities on an annual basis that are offered through different mediums. The following are conferences, workshops, educational series, and other educational initiatives offered by CERAH:
Conferences
Northwestern Ontario Palliative Care Conference & Booster Events
Each year, CERAH hosts either a multi-day Palliative Care Conference or shorter Booster event, bringing together healthcare providers from across Northwestern Ontario to learn about innovations, research, and advancements in palliative care. The aim of these events is to support capacity development in our region for the provision of quality palliative care. An energetic committee of local and regional palliative care clinicians and volunteers sets the theme and learning objectives for these events, ensuring topics and information are timely and relevant to healthcare providers.
Workshops
Learning Essential Approaches to Palliative and End of Life Care (LEAP)
CERAH delivers LEAP Core, developed by Pallium Canada, and various other LEAP Thematics based on identified need and request (LEAP Online, LEAP Mini, LEAP Renal, LEAP Paramedic, LEAP LTC, LEAP Oncology, LEAP Facilitator Training) on an annual basis.
The LEAP Core course is a competency-based 14 hour Mainpro+ accredited course designed by Pallium Canada to provide learners with the essential, basic competencies of the palliative care approach. The course is ideal for developing teamwork, promoting inter-professional collaboration, promoting collaboration amongst providers in different agencies who need to work together (e.g. community-based family physicians, home care nurses, community pharmacists, etc.)
Content includes: Being Aware, Taking Ownership, Decision-making, Hydration, Nutrition & GI Symptoms, Pain, Delirium, Essential Conversations, Advance Care Planning, Psychosocial & Spiritual Care, Last Days & Hours, Respiratory Symptoms, Palliative Sedation, Resources and Quality Improvement, Grief
Audience: Physicians, nurses, pharmacists and other licensed health care professionals (note: audience may vary depending on the thematic being delivered, e.g. LEAP LTC also includes Personal Support Workers)
Learning Essential Approaches to Palliative and End of Life Care (LEAP): Indigenous Communities
CERAH delivers an enhanced, Indigenous-oriented adaptation of the LEAP Core, whereby all the LEAP Core content is facilitated in a culturally-relevant way.
The LEAP Core course is a competency-based 14 hour Mainpro+ accredited course designed by Pallium Canada to provide learners with the essential, basic competencies of the palliative care approach. The course is ideal for developing teamwork, promoting interprofessional collaboration, promoting collaboration amongst providers in different agencies who need to work together (e.g. community-based family physicians, home care nurses, community pharmacists, etc.)
Content includes: Being Aware, Taking Ownership, Decision-making, Hydration, Nutrition & GI Symptoms, Pain, Delirium, Essential Conversations, Advance Care Planning, Psychosocial & Spiritual Care, Last Days & Hours, Respiratory Symptoms, Palliative Sedation, Resources and Quality Improvement, Grief
Audience: Physicians, nurses, pharmacists and other licensed health care professionals (note: audience may vary depending on the thematic being delivered, e.g. LEAP LTC also includes Personal Support Workers)
Palliative Care for Frontline Workers
Canadians die in hospitals, long-term care facilities and in the community affirming the need for continuing education on palliative care. CERAH has developed a 15 hour (10 module) course based on the identified learning needs and preferred educational format of front line care providers. The course is presented in a flexible manner. Past evaluations of the program indicate an increased comfort level and confidence in the provision of palliative care by healthcare workers who have taken the program.
Content includes: Introduction to Palliative Care, Setting the Stage, Physiology of Dying, Pain, Working with Individuals and their Families, Advance Care Planning, Health Care Consent, and Capacity, Culture, Grief and Bereavement, Helping Relationships and Self-Care, Working within a TEAM
Audience: Front Line Health Care Providers, Hospice/Palliative Care Volunteers
Palliative Care for Frontline Workers in Indigenous Communities
CERAH has developed a 15 hour (8 module) course based on the identified learning needs of frontline providers in Indigenous communities. This course is similar to the Palliative Care for Frontline Workers course but content has been tailored to reflect the unique needs of Indigenous communities.
Content includes: Understanding the Palliative Approach to Care, Working with Individuals and Families, Advance Care Planning, Pain and Other Symptoms, Last Days and Hours of Living in an Expected Death, Grief and Loss, Helping Relationships and Self-Care, and Community Care Teams
Audience: Frontline Health Care Providers, Hospice/Palliative Care Volunteers
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P.I.E.C.E.S. Learning and Development Model
CERAH works with a number of provincial programs to offer a variety of workshops for formal and informal care providers who are caring for older adults living with geriatric mental health needs in northwestern ON. CERAH has a list of trained facilitators to provide the programs, most of whom reside within northwestern ON. We will work with the agencies/programs and the facilitators to determine a suitable date/time/location for each of the programs and how they can be delivered in the most cost efficient way. CERAH will also work upon request from community partners to develop and tailor webinars, half day or full day workshops, seminars according to their needs.
Content: P.I.E.C.E.S.™ is a holistic, person and care partner-directed model which enhances capacity at the individual, TEAM, organization and system levels to support the care of the older individual living with complex chronic disease. The model provides a shared understanding of the often multiple underlying causes of behavioural expression and associated risks, recognizing areas of need, building on the person’s remaining strengths, and considering the person’s Physical, Intellectual, and Emotional health, supportive strategies to maximize Capabilities, the individual’s social and physical Environment, and his/her Social self (cultural, spiritual, life story).
Want to learn more about P.I.E.C.E.S. or are interested in organizing a workshop for your agency/program?
Contact: Ruth Wilford, Knowledge Broker, CERAH, or telephone: (807) 766-7298 or rwilford@lakeheadu.ca
LIVING The Dementia Journey
CERAH works with a number of provincial programs to offer a variety of workshops for formal and informal care providers who are caring for older adults living with geriatric mental health needs in northwestern ON. CERAH has a list of trained facilitators to provide the programs, most of whom reside within northwestern ON. We will work with the agencies/programs and the facilitators to determine a suitable date/time/location for each of the programs and how they can be delivered in the most cost efficient way. CERAH will also work upon request from community partners to develop and tailor webinars, half day or full day workshops, seminars according to their needs.
Content: LIVING the Dementia Journey is an award-winning, evidence-informed training program for those who support people living with dementia. Participants gain awareness and understanding that changes not only the way they view dementia, but the way they support people living with it. The program utilizes presentations, individual reflections, small and large group discussions, and experiential learning to train adult learners in the importance of shifting care and services to focus on a person’s strengths and abilities, and how each person can be supported in living life to the fullest.
Want to learn more about P.I.E.C.E.S. or are interested in organizing a workshop for your agency/program?
U-First Training
CERAH works with a number of provincial programs to offer a variety of workshops for formal and informal care providers who are caring for older adults living with geriatric mental health needs in northwestern ON. CERAH has a list of trained facilitators to provide the programs, most of whom reside within northwestern ON. We will work with the agencies/programs and the facilitators to determine a suitable date/time/location for each of the programs and how they can be delivered in the most cost efficient way. CERAH will also work upon request from community partners to develop and tailor webinars, half day or full day workshops, seminars according to their needs.
Content: U-First! is a training program that helps frontline staff to develop a common knowledge base, language, values and approach to caring for people with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias by understanding the person living with dementia and associated behaviour changes and working as a team to develop individualized support strategies.
Want to learn more about P.I.E.C.E.S. or are interested in organizing a workshop for your agency/program?
Contact: Ruth Wilford, Knowledge Broker, CERAH, or telephone: (807) 766-7298 or rwilford@lakeheadu.ca
Gentle Persuasive Approaches
CERAH works with a number of provincial programs to offer a variety of workshops for formal and informal care providers who are caring for older adults living with geriatric mental health needs in northwestern ON. CERAH has a list of trained facilitators to provide the programs, most of whom reside within northwestern ON. We will work with the agencies/programs and the facilitators to determine a suitable date/time/location for each of the programs and how they can be delivered in the most cost efficient way. CERAH will also work upon request from community partners to develop and tailor webinars, half day or full day workshops, seminars according to their needs.
Content: Gentle Persuasive Approaches is an innovative dementia care education curriculum based on a person centred care approach. Designed for interdisciplinary point of care staff across the health care sectors, GPA Basics is delivered as four modules over a 7.5 hour day. The session is evidence-based, interactive and practical.
Audience: Care providers in a professional setting, including students enrolled at a recognized educational institution. Potential or current job includes interaction with persons with dementia, or proof of registration for course completion in a health related field.
Educational Series
CERAH Speaker Series
Each month CERAH will host virtual presentations on a variety of topics and various presenters. Sessions are one hour in length and offered via the Zoom platform.
A sampling of past topics includes: Discharge Planning to First Nations Communities, Entertain, Educate, and Enthrall: Applied Theatre in Death Education, Difficult Conversations: Decision Making, Compromised Autonomy and Advance Care Planning, Disenfranchised Grief: Finding hope and meaning in our work that involves death and loss, Palliative Management of ALS in the Community with Attention to Respiratory, and many more!
See our Education Archives section to view past events. (Previously called CERAH Lunch & Learns)
Health Research Dialogue Series
Each year, CERAH hosts a spring, fall, and winter Lunch & Learn Series on various topics relating to current health research. Sessions are one hour in length and may be attended face-to-face at the centre, at various OTN sites throughout the region, or via live webcast. Sessions are also archived enabling viewing at a later date.
A sampling of past topics includes: “Speaking Up and Speaking Out: Valuing the Perspectives of LTBT Older Adults in Canada” Dr. Katherine Kortes-Miller, “The Inconvenient truth: The ‘obesity’ epidemic, evolving science, and new paradigms” Dr. Erin Cameron, “Aging among Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities – a Focus on Frailty” Dr. Lynn Martin, “Weight Management and Life Coaching: A ‘One Size Fits None’ Approach” Dr. Erin Pearson
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Thunder Bay Medical Schools
On a contract basis CERAH coordinates two yearly conferences for the Thunder Bay Medical Society: Summer School (September) and Spring School (April), both of which are multi-day events. These MainPro+ accredited events bring together primary care physicians and nurse practitioners living and working in Northwestern Ontario. In addition to high quality education sessions, these events also provide opportunity for networking and information sharing.
Community Projects
Dementia Café: A Place to Belong
Directed and delivered by CERAH
Hosted by Urban Abbey
Funded by the North West LHIN
Supported by the Alzheimer Society of Thunder Bay
The goal of Dementia Café: A Place to Belong is to create and maintain a safe and inclusive social environment with opportunities for social connection and interaction for people with dementia, regardless of age or stage, and their care partners.
Dementia Café runs every other Sunday afternoon from 2-4 pm at Urban Abbey.
Fore more information, please email dementia.cafe@lakeheadu.ca
You can also find us on Facebook.