Posted on: February 9, 2023
On behalf of: Dr. Elisabeth Drance, Geriatric Psychiatrist
Dr. Elisabeth Drance is a geriatric psychiatrist and one of the founders of the first clinical resource for dementia caregivers in British Columbia – the Dementia Caregiver Resilience Clinic (DCRC) located at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver. She is the first Canadian facilitator of Mindfulness Based Dementia Care, a member of the advisory group for the University of Alberta “Caregiver-Centered Care Competency” framework, and has had a career-long interest in supporting people with Dementia and their families.
Island Health’s Senior’s Health and Community Virtual Care Program has been fortunate in collaborating with Dr. Drance to support a caregiver experience focus in our work. In partnership, we have created an innovative new caregiver program, and have drafted a framework for supporting Island Health staff to recognize, communicate and work collaboratively with caregivers. We look forward to continuing to advance this work in 2023-2024.
As a physician with a rather specific skill set moving from one health authority to another, I was grateful when Island Health invited me to support the interdisciplinary Seniors Health team for a project related to caregiver wellbeing, through the Health System Redesign Initiative.
The project has two arms. The first is the development of the Community Virtual Care Caregiver Program which is designed to work intensively with caregivers and care partners experiencing significant distress in their role as caregivers. I was encouraged to share my clinical experience from Providence Health Care where we developed a small Dementia Caregiver Resilience Clinic. Contributing to the development of the Caregiver Program helped me to learn about Island Health as a service provider, to understand the resources available to support caregivers and to identify what more is required.
In the spirit of collaboration and with the goal to optimize caregiver support on Vancouver Island, we consulted with physicians and held focus groups with clinicians in Island Health, worked closely with Family Caregivers of BC and the Alzheimer Society of BC, and used our findings to inform the creation of the Caregiver Program. The program began accepting referrals in early November and is now fully operational.
The second arm of the project is to develop a framework for supporting collaboration between family caregivers and health care teams in Island Health. It is essential that the knowledge provided by caregivers, as well as their wellbeing be included in any care planning or discharge of patients. Families provide the vast majority of the care to our patients, and we need to hear from them and actively partner with them to create meaningful approaches to care. As we explore this framework, we are identifying gaps in supports and resources.
Island Health is actively involved with the University of Alberta’s Caregiver Centered Care initiative and I have learned new approaches to supporting and partnering with caregivers. Our project is exploring how this framework can be applied to the Island Health setting, adapting it to meet the needs of this particular health authority. Our team plans to be ready to present our draft ideas to Island Health Senior Leadership by the end of March, and we expect to see the framework rolled out within the health authority in 2023-2024.
It has been a joy to find connection with colleagues from a variety of disciplines and to be supported to be part of a project that has the chance to impact so many people throughout Island Health. I am particularly grateful to Dr. Marilyn Malone, Medical Director, Seniors Health, and Doreh Mohsenzadeh, Director for Seniors Health & Community Virtual Care, for offering me this opportunity to learn about Island Health and to contribute my expertise to this project.