Health Mentors Program

June 10, 2011 Trudi Smith Leave a Comment

Health Mentors Co-Chair Merv Ungurain addresses the group. (Photo - Marilyn Klein)

Despite the rain and the excitement of the Royal Wedding, 44 Health Mentors mobilized themselves to come to the Mentor Appreciation Event on the afternoon of April 29, 2011. There, they had the opportunity to meet with each other and with program planners and supervisors, and to share their ideas about how to make the program more effective in the 2011/2012 academic year. This was also an occasion to thank these generous community volunteers for their invaluable contribution to the education of our future health professionals.

Appoximately 575 students took part in this pilot year, including 48 in Saint John. Students were enrolled in 18 different programs in the Faculties of Health Professions, Medicine, Dentistry, Computer Science and Science at Dalhousie and the School of Nursing at UNBSJ. They were divided into 151 interprofessional teams, each team connected with one Health Mentor and an individual with a chronic condition and/or disability. As the year went by, mentors and teams met three to four times to talk about the mentors’ lives, their health and their journey through the healthcare system. Students did not provide treatment, care or advice; rather, they listened to their mentor’s experience in order to learn about client centred care, chronic conditions and teamwork.

As the first year of this pilot project draws to a close, evaluation is underway, capturing the feedback of students, faculty supervisors and mentors. The feedback is still being reviewed and analyzed, but we can report that the mentors felt valued being listened to and having the opportunity to influence the education of future health professionals, and many commented on what they gained from the experience.

The Health Mentors program was interprofessional in its conception, its development and its implementation. Many thanks are owed to the dedicated facutly who participated in program planning, supervision of students and integration of the content into the various curricula, to the Deans of the involved Faculties for their willingness to try a new approach, to the students who undertook this new educational venture, and of course to the mentors, without whom none of this would have been possible.

FHP Award Winners

May 30, 2011 Trudi Smith Leave a Comment

From top: Anne Marie Whelan, David Jakeman and Lois Jackson being presented with their awards by Dean Will Webster

At the Full Faculty meeting held on May 19, 2011, three of our faculty members were recognized with awards.

Dr. Anne Marie Whelan of the College of Pharmacy was presented with the Teaching Excellence Award. This annual award recognizes the critical role that teaching plays in the Faculty of Health Professions and honours an outstanding teacher who embodies the finest aspects of exemplary teaching.

This year, two awards were established in recognition of outstanding research leading to significant progress in the understanding and/or management of a health related problem. The Research Excellence Award was open to all faculty members and the Junior Research Award was open to faculty members within ten years of their initial appointment. Dr. Lois Jackson, Acting Director of the AHPRC and Professor in the School of Health and Human Performance received the Research Excellence Award and Dr. David Jakeman, College of Pharmacy, was given the Junior Research Award.

Congratulations to all of our award winners!

Dalhousie Launches $250-Million Campaign

March 30, 2011 Jennifer Godbold Leave a Comment

Acquiring knowledge, not debt

Dal campaign aims to raise $250 million for scholarships, improvements
By CLARE MELLOR Staff Reporter
Wed, Mar 30

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Metro/1235773.html

Bold Ambitions for Health Professions

March 29, 2011 Trudi Smith Leave a Comment

The official launch of “Bold Ambitons: The Campaign for Dalhousie” is taking place today. To learn more about the priorities for the Faculty of Health Professions, visit the Bold Ambitions website.

SHA Supports Milk Tickets Program

March 15, 2011 Trudi Smith Leave a Comment

Shawn Chhabra (AHAS President), Jane Moloney (NECHC), Ben Ridout (MHA, 2nd year), Alexandra Hill-Mann (MHA, 1st year).

The students and faculty of the Masters of Health Administration program have raised $400 for the North End Community Health Centre (NECHC) in order to provide them with much needed funding for their “Milk Tickets” program. The NECHC had recently lost funding for their initative, aimed at providing subsidized milk vouchers to new and expecting mothers. The $400 will provide much needed relief, but more help and contributions are always needed. If you would like to contribute, cheques can be mailed directly to the NECHC, or contact Jane Moloney for further information.

A Boost for Aboriginal Health Research

March 11, 2011 Trudi Smith Leave a Comment

AAHRP Grant Recipients: Carla Moore, Heather Castleden, Fred Wien and Debbie Martin

Congratulations to Fred Wien (Social Work) the nominated principal applicant on a project receiving $9,280,961 for the next two years for the CIHR Network Environments for Aboriginal Health Research. The network comprises 9 centres across the country as well as a national office. Their mandate is to build health research capacity in Aboriginal health research, support and conduct community-based research, engage in knowledge translation and develop a national network for Aboriginal health research.

One of the centres is the Atlantic Aboriginal Health Research Program (AAHRP) based at Dalhousie University and the Millbrook First Nation. In addition to Fred Wien, the team of principal investigators and co-applicants includes Charlotte Reading (University of Victoria), Cheryl Bartlett (Cape Breton University) and from Dalhousie University Debbie Martin (Health and Human Performance), Heather Castleden (School for Resource and Environmental Studies), Tuma Young (Law) and Carla Moore (AAHRP).

Becky Spencer takes first at IHRTP Research Day

March 10, 2011 Trudi Smith Leave a Comment

Congratulations to Becky Spencer (School of Health Administration and School of Health and Human Performance MA HPRO Candidate) who was awarded first prize at the Integrated Health Research Training Program (IHRTP) Health Research Trainee Day. Held on February 2, 2011; the event brought together students from Medicine, Dentistry and Health Professions to present their research. Becky’s winning project “The role of peer mentors in enhancing school-based physical activity: Phase 1” evaluates the effectiveness of peer mentoring in increasing the activity levels of children. Becky is supervised by Dr. Sara Kirk of the School of Health Administration.

O’Brien to head Capital Health board

February 11, 2011 Jennifer Godbold 1 Comment

The Chronicle Herald

There’s a new boss in Capital Health’s board room.

Daniel O’Brien has been appointed chairman of the board of directors, the health authority said in a news release Thursday.

O’Brien has held academic and administrative positions at Dalhousie University and Saint Thomas University in Fredericton.

At Dalhousie, he was director of the School of Social Work and associate dean of the Faculty of Health Professions. He was president and vice-chancellor at Saint Thomas for 16 years.

“I look forward to working with the other volunteer members to support Capital Health as it transforms and to improve the health of our citizens,” O’Brien said.

Speaking up about stuttering By Ryan McNutt

January 20, 2011 Jennifer Godbold Leave a Comment

You wouldn’t necessarily think that speech therapy would make a compelling subject for a hit movie. ButThe King’s Speech—which tells the true story of King George VI’s efforts to cope with a severe stutter in the lead-up to Second World War—manages to wring great drama out of the process: fear, angst, humour, sadness and, ultimately, the sense of joy that comes from triumphing through personal adversity.

Riding a wave of critical acclaim, the film took home a Golden Globe Sunday night for best actor (Colin Firth) and is expected to be a major contender at next month’s Academy Awards. And it counts Will Webster, Dean of Dalhousie’s Faculty of Health Professions, among its admirers.

“I thought the movie was very well done,” says Dr. Webster, who has stuttered, as he puts it, “from the moment I opened my mouth” and whose research program for many years has focused on brain mechanisms associated with stuttering. Dr. Webster says he saw his own experience reflected in the film.

To read the rest of the story visit http://dalnews.dal.ca/2011/01/18/king’s.html?utm_source=dalnewsWeekly&utm_medium=email&utm_content=123&utm_campaign=dalnewsWeekly

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Category: FHP