Care to Chat to focus on quality and collaboration in continuing care

The last instalment of the Care to Chat speaker series for this season will be held at the BC Care Providers Association’s (BCCPA) 40^th Annual Conference at Fairmont Chateau Whistler on May 30^th. We are thrilled to announce that Gordon Daman, President of Red River Group and Michael Marchbank, CEO of Fraser Health will be panelists at Care to Chat titled “A Made in BC Road-map for Improving Collaboration and Quality of Seniors Care.”

Following the release of the BCCPA’s 2017 paper Strengthening Seniors Care: A Made-in-BC Roadmap which included over 30 recommendations to foster innovation and improve the quality of seniors’ care, this Care to Chat event will bring a diverse panel of health care leaders together to discuss the importance of quality and collaboration in the continuing care sector.

Many innovative approaches with respect to measuring quality of life and care for seniors have been introduced within the continuing care sector. One of the many innovative approaches is the work that Sherbrooke Community Centre in Saskatoon has engaged in. “Sherbrooke Community Centre continues to push the boundaries in relation to aging supports and environments. Not only in the long term care field but for seniors hoping to age well in community as independently as possible,” says Daman. According to him, the community centre has been able to measure increased quality of life outcomes due to their practice of putting seniors as the focus of care. Innovative approaches such as “Sherbrooke Community Centre and Eden Alternative help develop better understandings in relation to aging well, mobility and cognitive responses and serves as a support for independence as adults age,” adds Daman.

For Marchbank, having seniors and their families involved in completing Fraser Health’s family satisfaction surveys in residential care is essential to measure quality of life. “Our [Fraser Heath] family satisfaction survey measures life in residential care: food, leisure activities, care, laundry as examples,” he says. A survey that enables families and residents to be heard gives confidence to families regarding the care that they are receiving.

Although different approaches have been established concerning seniors’ quality of life, there are still issues in BC that affect even those receiving care. Daman explains that a recognition to shift to person centred care and support is one of the issues that should be addressed which will require a change in the culture of care. “Addressing this challenge is critical, in my opinion, as we will see four times as many people over 75 in three decades’ time than we currently see today,” he says. “Our existing infrastructure and programming supports, within an environment of government fiscal restraint, will likely be overwhelmed if we don’t seek innovation through a paradigm shift in our delivery and support systems of care.” Marchbank adds that a proactive, integrated system with services to the patient rather than the patients going to the services, particularly to the home-bound is another issue that should be resolved.

Meet the Care to Chat panelists:

Gordon Daman

Gordon Daman has served over 10 years as senior https://bccare.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/medcare-img22.jpgistrator in the non-profit sector prior to entering the appraisal industry. He entered the appraisal field in 1998 and has been President of the Red River Group since 2000.

In 1998 Gordon was elected to Niverville Town Council, and in 2002 was acclaimed Mayor. He retired from active politics in 2006. His experience in municipal government has provided him a strong background in understanding rural/urban development issues, the nuances of property assessment, and the value influence created by long term planned development.

Daman has served as President of Heritage Holdings Inc., a non-profit Centre in Niverville from 2005 to 2008. He was involved in helping birth the $10 million integrated facility which provides Niverville and area with assisted living/supportive care senior housing, medical facilities, large banquet and meeting space, and over 40,000 square feet of commercial space. Gordon was invited to re-join the Board in 2009 to assist with Heritage Holdings efforts to provide personal care housing for Niverville and area which received Provincial approval in June 2011. The Heritage Centre is a model for private public partnerships in the Province of Manitoba.

Gordon currently serves as Past President of the Appraisal Institute of Canada – Manitoba Provincial Council. Along with serving on the Heritage Holdings Board he serves as Board President of St. Adolphe Personal Care Home. Gordon also serves as a member of the Manitoba Municipal Board and Canadian Mennonite University.

Michael Marchbank

Michael Marchbank joined Fraser Health as President and CEO on January 2, 2015. Prior to that, Marchbank was the President and CEO of Health Employers Association of B.C. He has an extensive breadth of knowledge and experience gained through increasingly senior positions in health care. He has held the position of Chief Operating Officer for the Provincial Health Services Authority which he assumed after serving as the Executive Vice-President of Provincial Health Services Authority. Prior to the consolidation and establishment of the six provincial health authorities, Marchbank held the position of Chief Human Resources Officer, and subsequently served as President and CEO of the Fraser Valley Health Region. From 1992 to 1997, he was Vice-President, Corporate Services for Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops.

Marchbank has held a number of appointments in a wide range of health-related institutes, commissions and advisory committees including the B.C. Forensic Commission, the Child and Family Research Institute, the Women’s Health Research Institute and the Physician Strategic Services Advisory Committee. He has co-chaired, with the Assistant Deputy Minister of Health, the provincial Clinical Care Management Committee, a major standardized care initiative in B.C. In 2001/2002, Marchbank was appointed by the Ministry of Health to the Canadian Nurse Advisory Committee to review nursing issues in Canada.

Isobel Mackenzie

Isobel Mackenzie has over 20 years’ experience working with seniors in home care, licensed care, community services and volunteer services. She led B.C.’s largest not-for-profit agency, serving over 6,000 seniors annually. In this work, Mackenzie led the implementation of a new model of dementia care that has become a national best practice, and led the first safety accreditation for homecare workers, among many other accomplishments. Isobel has been widely recognized for her work and was named B.C. CEO of the Year for the not-for-profit sector and nominated as a Provincial Health Care Hero.

Prior to her appointment as the Seniors Advocate, she served on a number of national and provincial boards and commissions, including the BC Medical Services Commission, the Canadian Homecare Association, BC Care Providers, BC Care Aide and Community Health Worker Registry, and the Capital Regional District Housing Corporation. Mackenzie currently serves on the University of Victoria’s Board of Governors.

She received both her undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Victoria and has a Certificate in Health Care Leadership from the University of Toronto.

Rowena Rizzotti

Rowena Rizzotti has been a highly successful healthcare leader with more than 30 years experience, in senior and executive-level leadership roles in multi-site, complex health and business environments.

Rizzotti holds two Masters Degrees in Management and Business Administration (MBA) and also holds an undergraduate degree in Psychology and Biochemistry from UBC. She is clinically trained as both a nurse and a paramedic.

Rizzotti served as VP Operations for BC largest private senior care operator and also served as a Chief Operating Officer for BC’s Northern Health Authority among many other healthcare leadership roles. She earned wide acclaim for senior leadership of Fraser Heath’s Surrey Memorial Hospital (SMH) and for overseeing the over $500M SMH campus redevelopment, which included SMH’s Critical Care tower expansion and was a founding member of Innovation Boulevard and the Health & Technology District in Surrey, BC.

Panel moderator

Ann Marie Leijen

Ann Marie Leijen is the Chief Executive Officer of Valley Care Cheam Village and Glenwood located in Agassiz, BC. She has 20 years of leadership experience and is a strong advocate for quality and innovation in seniors care. She is passionate about dementia care and her team has reduced and sustained the rate of antipsychotic use to 5% at Cheam and Glenwood. Leijen works as a coach for the Sauder School of Business, Physician Leadership Program, and participated as a facility member with BCPSQC CLeAR initiative.

Leijen’s education includes an executive MBA in healthcare from the UBC Sauder School of Business and a BSN from the University of the Fraser Valley. She serves on the Board of Governors for the University of the Fraser Valley and the Board of Directors of the BC Care Provider’s Association where she is Chair of the Quality Improvement Committee.

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