Funding Acknowledgement
The Palliative Care ECHO Project is supported by a financial contribution from Health Canada. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of Health Canada.
CALTC Palliative Care ECHO Project Hub
Building expertise in Palliative Care
The CALTC Palliative Care ECHO Project Hub invites long-term care home leaders to participate in a series of facilitated sessions. Using the Project ECHO philosophy of ‘moving knowledge rather than people in order to increase access to best practices and reduce geographical health disparities’, CALTC’s Palliative Care ECHO Leadership Series will improve the ability of leaders in LTC homes in supporting staff, residents, caregivers and families.
About Pallium Canada
Pallium Canada is a national, non-profit organization focused on building professional and community capacity to help improve the quality and accessibility of palliative care in Canada. They believe that improving palliative care in Canada is everyone’s business, not just the responsibility of a small number of palliative care specialist physicians and nurses.
Pallium equips health care organizations, health care professionals, and community members with the skills and tools to provide better palliative care and support to patients with life-limiting illnesses and their families. For more information, visit https://www.pallium.ca/
Palliative Care ECHO Project
The Palliative Care ECHO Project is a 5-year national initiative to cultivate communities of practice and establish continuous professional development among health care providers across Canada who care for patients with life-limiting illness.
Stay connected: www.echopalliative.com
Our Sessions
Inequality, underfunding, understaffing, the role of technology in healthcare, quality of life – there are countless universal themes which have come to the forefront during the COVID-19 pandemic. These themes have created an urgency for health systems across the country to acknowledge the unintended consequences of the pandemic and reconcile relationships amongst health system leaders, providers, patients/residents, and families.
The Canadian Association of Long-term Care’s ECHO sessions unpack the role of long-term care leaders and administrators in palliative care at the home level, and create a platform for long-term care colleagues from across the country to discuss challenges and opportunities for improvement within homes.
Watch or read more about our past sessions below, and stay tuned for news about CALTC’s upcoming ECHO sessions.
Series Three
This session will walk participants through Pallium Canada’s newest Quality Improvement Condensed (QUIC) Toolkit: Improving Essential Conversations in Long-Term Care. CALTC’s goal for this session is to share the newest resource from Pallium Canada that supports long term care operators/administrators in improving essential conversations with residents, families and essential caregivers, and how to engage employees regarding palliative care quality improvement related initiatives. The session will be moderated by Jodi Hall, CEO of the Canadian Association for Long Term Care, and the presentation led by Elizabeth Wojtowicz, Nurse Practitioner. We hope you are able to join us as we discuss this new resource and join in discussion about challenges and best practices.
Watch a recording of this session here.
Series Two
This session will provide insight to long term care family members on what a palliative approach to care is. CALTC’s goal for this session is to facilitate an understanding amongst family members about what to expect during the palliative care of a resident from a holistic perspective – including the physical, emotional, spiritual and pharmacological facets of palliative care.
We will also discuss opportunities for family engagement and advocacy as part of the palliation plan, in collaboration with the long term care home’s care team.
Watch a recording of this session here.
The objective of this session is to introduce family members to the concept of grief and bereavement, including anticipatory grieving. Family members will explore the ways that grief and bereavement may be experienced, and strategies that can help, including how to best engage with support systems. We will also discuss the role of self-care as part of the grieving experience and effective approaches to live with loss.
Watch a recording of this session here.
This session will discuss the importance of establishing resident advanced directives that respect each resident’s culture, values and beliefs . Residents and families are encouraged to work with the LTC care team to establish aligned goals of care that reflect what is important to the Resident in their end of life planning and how to best support a “good death”.
Watch a recording of this session here.
Series One
This session introduced attendees to the ECHO series and what they can expect over the following 4 sessions.
Speaker: Jeff Moat, Pallium Canada. Jeff is the Chief Executive Officer of Pallium Canada. He provides oversight and direction to the organization, reinforcing Pallium’s role in delivering improvement initiatives that strengthen performance, empowering more people to embrace the palliative care approach and accelerating the integration of the palliative care approach in Canadian health and social systems.
Watch a recording of this webinar here.
This session focused on introducing a palliative approach philosophy to the workforce and creating a sustained organizational culture that reflects this policy.
Speaker: Kevin Harter, Victoria Hospice. As CEO of Victoria Hospice, Kevin leads a dedicated team of staff and volunteers. He works in close collaboration with the Leadership Team to ensure the delivery of palliative care services; effectively administer planning and operations; secure adequate financial and human resources; and actively promote and safeguard the integrity of Victoria Hospice. Kevin has spent the last 20 years ensuring that seniors, and those nearing the end of life, receive the best quality of care.
Watch a recording of this webinar here.
This session focused on supporting residents, staff, family, and caregivers during palliation.
Speaker: Jane Webley, Vancouver Coastal Health. Jane Webley is a Board Member (Director Vancouver Coastal) at the British Columbia Hospice Palliative Care Association (BCHPCA). She is passionate about healthcare, and committed to continuous learning and development, researching best practice from around the world, and using it as appropriate to promote sustainability and efficiency in our healthcare system. Jane believes that everyone has a right to excellent, evidenced based end of life care, regardless of setting, and to be provided in a timely manner with all the information necessary for end-of-life planning.
Watch a recording of this webinar here.
This session focused on developing an organizational protocol for medication and symptom management, and pain relief for palliative residents.
Speaker: Dr. Sandy Shamon. Dr. Sandy Shamon is a medical director and an attending physician working in two LTC homes in Toronto. She is also a Palliative Care physician with the Temmy Latner Center for Palliative Care at Sinai Health. She is a board director with the Ontario Long-Term Care Clinicians and has been involved in facilitating the medical director course. Dr. Shamon holds academic appointments at McMaster University and Western University and her academic research focuses on improving healthcare systems and Palliative Care in Long-Term Care.
Watch a recording of this webinar here.
This session focused on the dynamics in long-term care homes and how to meet the communications needs of residents, families, caregivers and staff, as pertaining to palliative care.
Speaker: Dr. Pamela Mansfield, Horizon Health Network. Dr. Pam Mansfield is a palliative medicine physician working in the Moncton area of the Horizon Health Network. She is a palliative care consultant and sees patients wherever they are located, be it home, nursing home, or hospital. She also teaches medical students and resident doctors about palliative care. Working with the New Brunswick Hospice Palliative Care Association, Dr. Mansfield advocates for palliative care for all New Brunswickers and works to improve the palliative care education of health care providers and volunteers.
Watch a recording of this webinar here.
