Today@Dal

The month of May is Caregiver Awareness Month in Nova Scotia and Wednesday, May 24 marks our second annual Caregiver Appreciation Day at Dalhousie. There will be a lunchtime event, 12-1 p.m., Room C268, Collaborative Health Education Building (CHEB) to celebrate the day.

As part of the event, Dr. Brad Meisner, School of Health and Human Performance, will present his findings from his study conducted about the health and productivity of informal caregivers who work at Dal. All members of the Dal community are also invited to come share their experiences and support one another as caregivers. Details and online registration available at: https://events-tm.dal.ca/workshop.php?id=2107.

“As a caregiver, I face demands and challenges taking care of my father while working full-time,” says Janice MacInnis, manager, organizational health and facilitator of Dalhousie’s Caregiver Support Group. “However, I’m so fortunate to have a workplace that is understanding and flexible, and support group members to lean on. It really makes all the difference.”

This past year, MacInnis spoke about caregiving as a workplace issue to the Conference Board of Canada’s Council on Workplace Health in Ottawa and has been asked to be an external reviewer for the Conference Board’s upcoming brief, “The Juggling Act: Balancing Work and Eldercare in Canada”.

The introduction of the Caregiver Support Group on campus is an example of the initiatives in Dal’s Work Well Strategy introduced last fall. The support group aims to help reduce stress for faculty and staff who are caregivers and give them a safe space to share their experiences. The group meets monthly and it is open to anyone at Dalhousie. Topics discussed during this year’s sessions included guilt, dying with dignity, finances and impacts on speech.

In addition to the support group, Human Resources developed Caregiver Support Guidelines to help managers and supervisors provide flexibility to those in a caregiver role. If you are a caregiver or know someone who is, caregiver information is available on the HR site, under Health & Wellness/Caregiver Resources.