Every year, the BC Care Awards celebrate excellence in British Columbia’s seniors’ living and wellness sector by recognizing care providers for their passion, dedication, and ability to inspire others.
The BC Care Provider of the Year Award is awarded to an individual who has demonstrated a commitment to quality, compassion and excellence in delivering or supporting the delivery of care to residents or clients.
The 9th Annual BC Care Awards will be presented in Victoria on February 28th. Along with two nights of accommodation at the Fairmont Empress, winners will be awarded free Occupational Health and Safety Refresher training for their organization, thanks to our sponsor SafeCare BC.
Read below for the first four finalists of the BC Care Provider of the Year in the Assisted Living category.
Cathy Baysic – Courtyard Terrace Seniors Community, Park Place
Cathy, a Recreation Coordinator, is resident-centered from the 
moment she walks in the door. Residents constantly describe how committed Cathy is in her service, and how her smile, laugh, and positive attitude are contagious. She strives to ensure that everyone has the chance to participate in activity at Courtyard, no matter their physical ability level. The relationship between Cathy and the residents is reciprocal. The residents are fueled by the joy she shares with them, and Cathy is fueled by the joy they give back to her. She helps residents to remain as independent as possible, working with them to keep doing activities they may have thought were not possible anymore, and going the extra mile to get spirits up through the pandemic is the definition of compassion and excellence. Cathy also runs an open forum at her recreation meetings where everyone has a voice and where family members are welcome to attend and contribute.
Cathy’s nomination included a letter from the resident council, reading as follows:
“Cathy cares for our emotional needs. She listens and talks with us and finds ways to solve our problems and keep us happy. Cathy gets our muscles and joints moving with exercises and our minds sharp with games like trivia and boggle—to name just a few. She organizes and takes us out on field trips. Cathy makes sure we always know what is going on. She creates and gives to us the monthly calendar, newsletter, and all the minutes for all the various meetings we have here. She supports wholeheartedly the Residents Council and all that we try to do. Cathy has taken the time to learn the sign language alphabet so that she can talk with and has a good relationship with a couple of our deaf residents. But beyond all these activities, the one thing we residents have all come to count on and appreciate is Cathy’s open loving heart. She tells us always, ‘I do it all to make you happy. That is the most important thing to me.’ And we believe her. We really believe she deserves some sort of commendation, but short of this we really wanted you to know what an amazing employee you have in Cathy Baysic.” – Sincerely, The Residents Council Courtyard Terrace
Linda Odjegba – Clarendon Court, Baptist Housing
Linda, a Resident Assistant, has been an outstanding team
member at Clarendon Court since it re-opened as Assisted Living in 2006. She reflects their values of compassion, honesty, respect, innovation, stewardship, teamwork, and fun, as she serves their residents every day. Linda knows that to provide the best care, one must know their residents well. She supports not only the care that is needed but the emotional needs of the residents. Linda is committed to spreading kindness, being fair, inclusive, and listening to all with no judgement. Because of this, there’s no doubt that she has built a trusting relationship with Clarendon Court residents.
Linda dedicates her whole self to the residents. She always comes to work early and even voluntarily stays late to support her co-workers and ensure her tasks are completed.
Linda’s nominator had the following story to share:
“In Assisted Living, residents are responsible in buying personal items of their own. If they are not able, family will support them in this area. A daughter of a resident, who is also their only family, was not in town. A resident needed a bread for her breakfast but unable to go out to buy the bread because of her physical limitations. Linda went out of her way to buy this bread for her. She was never obligated to do this but rather out of kindness from her heart.”
Maya Hajj Taha – Trillium West Shore Village
Maya, a Front Desk Receptionist, has been with Trillium 
West Shore Village since 2018 and is a pillar of the community, primarily in the evenings and on the weekends. Her professionalism, attention to detail and communication are top notch. She is very caring and kind to the residents and always has their best interests at heart. She is extremely reliable and responsible. She is also very helpful with the team and always assists with training new employees. She works at West Shore Village while going to school full-time to be a nurse. She definitely lives the values of community and teamwork.
Maya really cares and ensures the residents and staff are well looked after. She takes the initiative and often assists with extra tasks, activities, dining and housekeeping without being asked. She ensures residents have their meals in their suites if they are not feeling well or left for an appointment. She has demonstrated numerous times that the health and safety of the residents and building is always at her forefront. She even helped pack up and temporarily relocate a couple of residents to other suites when there was a water leak.
Sandy Stacknick – Baptist Housing
On a daily basis, Sandy Stancknick goes above 
and beyond daily as a Care Aide to help the residents with anything. Sandy will often take tasks home for the residents to complete, such as sewing, gluing, or putting things back together. She makes them feel special everyday. There recently was a resident that was palliative, and knowing that he loved classic cars, she came in one evening with her nephew, who had just restored a classic care to share with this resident. On his final day here, she worked extra hard in the morning to make sure all her showers were done, so that she could spend some extra special time with him before he left us to go to hospice.
Here are some of the things that colleagues and residents had to say about Sandy:
“I often hear that nobody can replace Sandy, she is the best, this is heard from not just her residents, but their families and team. The team respect her opinions and suggestions, and she is a great teacher for new team or students.”
“She often knows what we need before we even know what we need.”
“She should have been a hairdresser, she does our hair just perfect after our shower, making it look lovely for the whole week.”
