Home Monitoring Technologies Forum

Are you interested in home (personal) health monitoring technologies and ways they can be used to improve patient care in Alberta? If so, here is an event you may find of interest.

Click here to read and download the forum information.

Are you a caregiver to someone with dementia?


In an effort to raise the voice of caregivers, Carers Canada and the Canadian Home Care Association are seeking friends and family members who care for a person with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias to share their experience by completing a private and secure on-line survey. The survey should take about 15 minutes to complete.

  • Feedback received from this survey will be used to inform the federal government in advancing Bill C-233, an Act respecting a national strategy for Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. This Act directs the federal Minister of Health to develop and implement a comprehensive national strategy for the care of people living with Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementias, as well as their families and caregivers.
  • Please note that the survey closes on February 5, 2018.

Curbside Consultations – Learning From and With Each Other

curbside consultationThe following was written and submitted by the Appropriate Use of Antipsychotics (AUA) project team.

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Long-term care (LTC) sites often wait months for expert consultation on very challenging responsive behaviours (or send the person to hospital). Last November we experimented by throwing out an open invitation to our LTC contacts to help out with a case study from North zone. There were many insightful suggestions from more than 30 callers (and no one said, “Have you thought of adding more drugs?”) We wrote the case study and ideas into a report and shared with the sites. Curbside consultations have grown in popularity with 30 – 50 callers (some representing groups of up to 10 staff members) at noon and 2 pm on the 3rd Wednesday of each month. This is helping residents and staff get more timely help, is educating and empowering staff to try new ideas, and has the potential to take some pressure off the very stretched mental health consultants.

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Click here to learn about the AUA team and their initiatives.

I have no words. I have a thousand words.

In a recent blog post, Anon456, a former ICU nurse, describes her typical day in the palliative unit. In the midst of paperwork, administration of medicine and providing patient care, Anon456 recognizes what an honor it is to be part of the end-of-life journey.

It’s 0653. I pull up to the hospice unit, clock in, fill my coffee mug, and get my nursing brain printed out. At 0700, I count narcotics and take report on six patients. It’s going to be a busy day, one of those days where I must control the chaos, take the time to support patients, complete as many of the thousand tasks set before me as I can, and be prepared to deal with the unexpected.

I work in a palliative/hospice inpatient unit, a place where patients come when they are in crisis,can’t be cared for at home, or simply have no place else to go. One of my patients today is in indigent man who has no one in the world.We cannot locate his family. We don’t even know his real name. He slipped into a coma yesterday and is non-responsive. We take care of him, call him by the name we think he has, and witness his last hours or days.

Click here to read the full blog post.

Dementia Care Conference

If you will be in the Lethbridge area on May 27th, here is an event you may be interested in attending.

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Beulah Salt Seniors Conference – Dementia Care
May 27, 2016, 7:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
University of Lethbridge,

Student Union Ballroom A & B
Registration is $10.00 
(Deadline to register is May 13, 2016.)

The sessions include:

Searching for Closeness – Why Feelings Matter Most in Dementia Care
Presenter: Dr. David Sheard, CEO / Founder Dementia Care Matters

Interventions to Change Practice in Long Term Care Facilities
Presenter: Dr. Sienna Caspar, Assistant Professor, Therapeutic Recreation Program, Faculty of Health Sciences, U of L

Moral Distress
Presenter: Dr. Shannon Spenceley, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Health Sciences, U of L

Understanding the Role of the Male Caregiver
Presenter: Mr. Ryan Waldorf, MHSc (Nursing), RN; Instructor, Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, U of L

Learning How to be a Butterfly – The Butterfly Household Model of Care
Presenter: Dr. David Sheard

Click here for the Conference Registration Form.