Tuesday March 11th, 2014 marked an exciting milestone for SafeCare BC, with the first SafeCare BC teleforum. Over 40 professionals from across the continuing care sector participated in the discussion lead by Mary Ellen Sanajko of Conduit Coaching. Also joining in on the discussion was the newly appointed SafeCare BC executive director, Jennifer Lyle, who offered insight in to the recent progress of SafeCare BC and the vision for the future.
In addition to Lyle, the dialogue featured perspectives from a panel of several industry health and safety experts including Della Mcgaw with Hospital Employee’s Union, Mark Slobin of Health Employers Association of British Columbia and Michael Sager from WorkSafeBC. Daniel Fontaine, CEO for the BC Care Providers Association also participated. 
“It’s great to see SafeCare BC moving from concept to reality,” says Fontaine. “Our members are really looking forward to the launch of a variety of new training options later this year which will serve to help prevent workplace injuries. Preventable injuries is a huge driver of costs and impacts so many lives that we definitely want to make progress through the new safety association.”
SafeCare BC Conducts Needs Assessment
In November of last year, SafeCare BC undertook a training needs assessment to determine the training and resource needs of the long term care sector in British Columbia. Jennifer Hystad and Wynona Giannasi of Howegroup were contracted to carry out the needs assessment and investigate first-hand what the demands of the sector are. The scope of the assessment included all health and safety training, education, and resources available to the long term care sector in British Columbia. Hystad joined the teleforum on Tuesday to offer listeners a sneak-peek at what was discovered during the training needs assessment.
“One of the first initiatives of SafeCare BC was to carry out a comprehensive assessment of what is already out there, and what is needed,” says Lyle. “The teleforum allowed us an opportunity to share what we have learned over the past few months, and how we can use this information to reduce injuries in the workplace.”[quote name=”Jennifer Lyle, Executive Director, SafeCare BC” pull=”left”]One of the first initiatives of SafeCare BC was to carry out a comprehensive assessment of what is already out there, and what is needed[/quote]
As the teleforum continued, participants engaged in the dialogue by submitting live questions which were posed during the session.
“The mandate of SafeCare BC is to fulfill the needs of continuing care workers and employers,” says Lyle, “And events like yesterday’s teleforum offer our members a platform to voice their feedback on what is important to them.”
For a full recap, and recording, of the March 11th teleforum, click here.
