News and Events - 2020
December 2020
COVID-19 - Mental Health Resources and Supports: A new document 'Mental Health Resources & Supports for Continuing Care Staff' has been added to the Resources page.
November 2020
The new program coordinator, Sadia Anwar joined ICCER. Sadia has extensive program management experience and looks forward to contributing to the research and education initiatives led by ICCER.
October 2020
It is with mixed feelings that we announce the departure of ICCER's Program Coordinator, Emily Dymchuk. While we are sorry to see her go, we send Emily our congratulations in her new role. ICCER's Steering Committee is currently working on a transition plan and will keep members informed moving forward.
August 2020
Registration is now open for the first few webinars of our fall series starting in September!
ICCER’s Executive Director, Sandra Woodhead Lyons, retired as of July 30. We would like to thank Sandra for her leadership and her commitment to ICCER and continuing care over the past 12 years. She will be missed!
May 2020
Our spring webinar series continues with webinars every two weeks until the end of June. Don’t forget to register! We will have more webinars coming in the fall.
COVID-19 is affecting us all. Here are some resources:
- The International Federation on Ageing (IFA) is a hosting Virtual Town Hall series to explore COVID-19 and its impact on older people globally.
- The Impact of COVID-19 on Alberta’s Nonprofits and Voluntary Organizations - As the challenges from COVID-19 continue, governments, organizations and funders need information about the impacts of the pandemic and what is most needed by the nonprofit sector at this time. To help provide a picture of the impacts, ABNN conducted a survey of the sector between March 30 and April 5, 2020, garnering 474 responses. The full report is available now on ABNN’s website.
- @CIHI_ICIS has updated their COVID-19 resources pages. They've compiled their key reports and resources containing information related to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and will update this page with new content whenever possible.
- Why self-care is important during COVID-19 – especially for health care workers
- A new report by Dr. Derek Wade suggests that COVID19 will increase needs for rehabilitation (and I expect family care).
- Caring behind closed doors – forgotten families in the coronavirus outbreak from carersuk
Dr. Lisa Howard and Dr. Julia Brassolotto, who presented Sexual Expression in Continuing Care Homes: Perspectives of Managers, Leaders, Family Members & Residents in November (recording available on members only website for associates and organizational members) have a new article out in the Journal of Aging Studies: “If you do not find the world tasty and sexy, you are out of touch with the most important things in life”: Resident and family member perspectives on sexual expression in continuing care
April 2020
Keep an eye on our Event Registration page. We have some exciting webinars coming up over the next two months.
Individual members – if you haven’t renewed your membership for 2020/21, now is the time to do so.
March 2020
ICCER is adapting its networking and education events to an online platform to support self-isolation and physical distancing. We will offer a series of webinars in April and May, including a two-part webinar on caregiver-centred care, as well as presentations on various innovations from the University of Alberta. We plan to continue to offer webinars through the coming months, so stay tuned for updates!
ICCER would like to welcome its newest Associate Member, Dignity Memorial.
February 2020
ICCER held its 8th annual Responsive Behaviours Symposium on February 19! Presentations are available under Responsive Behaviours Symposiums.
January 2020
ICCER is excited to announce its success in receiving the AHS Community-based Innovations for Dementia Care (CIDC) 2019 grant! Our project, “Creating Conversations: A Dementia Activity Toolkit to Reduce Social Isolation” will revise (Canadianize) an activity toolkit developed in Scotland for persons with dementia, then pilot and evaluate it in Alberta. The purpose is to reduce social isolation for persons with dementia by providing activities to increase communication between them and their caregivers. As the toolkit has a gardening theme, we will be introducing a gardening-based activity to provide a fun, multi-sensory experience that includes physical, cognitive, emotional, and social elements. Almost all of our member organizations will be participating in the project as participating sites, advisory team members and/or evaluation team members. We are pleased to be working with our partners in Scotland, the developers of Creating Conversations, University of Stirling and ArtLink Central.