Thursday, April 7, 2016

Hallman Lecture to discuss aging in Africa

The latest edition in the Hallman Lecture Series will feature Dr. Leon Geffen of the University of Cape Town in South Africa and is entitled "Aging in Africa: Challenges and opportunities to improve the well-being of older persons."

"Psychosocial peer support programs have been shown to be effective in improving the health and wellbeing of people living with HIV," says the talk's abstract. "A novel program, AgeWell, modelled upon an existing HIV support program, Mothers2Mothers, employed older persons (age > 60 years) as visitors, providing peer-to-peer companionship, to other older adults. AgeWell visitors (AgeWells) were trained to identify potential health issues early, allowing for out-patient assessment and management, keeping people in their homes and out of hospitals and institutions."

Dr. Geffen will discuss how the AgeWell program fared in a high-density area of predominantly disadvantages South Africans and outline how the peer support program proved to be an effective approach to improving the wellbeing of older persons.

Geffen is a family physician in Cape Town, South Africa, is the Senior interRAI Fellow in South Africa and is an Honorary Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Health Sciences at University of Cape Town. His research interests include cognitive impairment, oral health in older persons, the use of peer support programs to improve wellbeing of older persons, decision support systems to assist in care planning for nursing home residents and improving healthcare delivery services in under-resourced areas. His current research is focused on primary care geriatrics.

The free lecture takes place on Friday, April 8 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. in the Sun Life Financial Auditorium, with a reception to follow.

New partnership provides service to veterans

by Wendy Philpott. This article was originally posted on the Faculty of Arts news site.

The University of Waterloo’s Centre for Mental Health Research (CMHR) has expanded its range of mental health care for the local community with a specialized assessment service for veterans, members of the Canadian Armed Forces and RCMP. The service was created by an important new partnership with Parkwood Institute’s Operational Stress Injury Clinic (OSIC) part of St. Joseph’s Health Care London (St. Joseph’s).

This week UWaterloo held the official opening ceremony of the Operational Stress Injury (OSI) service with distinguished visiting guests including Dr. Cyd Courchesne, director general of health professionals and national medical officer of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Heather Tales, director of the Veterans Care Program at St. Joseph’s, and Michael Newcombe, OSISS peer support coordinator for Southwestern Ontario and director of casualty support management, for the Department of National Defense - and a veteran himself.

Through this relationship with St. Joseph’s, the CMHR provides veterans and active members of the Canadian Armed Forces and the RCMP with a comprehensive mental health assessment, a vital first step in supporting those with potential operational stress injury. The service is provided by Dr. Shannon Gifford, a senior member of the OSI clinical team at St. Joseph’s and adjunct faculty member in Psychology here at UWaterloo. Dr. Gifford also supervises PhD candidate in Clinical Psychology, Brenda Chiang, and Waterloo Region Psychology Consortium Resident, Yue Zhao, who currently conduct the assessments. The CMHR plans to offer more student clinicians the opportunity to train in the OSI service.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one example of several persistent psychological difficulties otherwise known as operational stress injuries (OSI) that military and RCMP personnel can develop as a result of duties performed during their service. Others include major depressive disorder, substance abuse, general anxiety and difficulty adjusting to civilian life.

 “We know from decades of research that PTSD tends to develop into a chronic condition that rarely gets better on its own without effective psychological treatment,” said Professor David Moscovitch, executive director of CMHR. “Providing culturally aware, evidence-based assessment services through the CMHR will allow access to these assessments closer to home for those in our region who are struggling with service-related psychological injury.”

Read the rest of the article on the Faculty of Arts news site.

Associate Librarian leaves one UW, joins another

Effective April 18, Associate University Librarian Pascal Calarco will be moving to the University of Windsor to become that institution’s new University Librarian.

“Windsor’s gain is Waterloo’s loss,” writes University Librarian Mark Haslett. “Pascal came to Waterloo in July 2011 and since then has made significant contributions as our Associate University Librarian, Research & Digital Discovery Services. He will be missed.”

Calarco began his library career at Yale University’s Cushing/Whitney Medical Library and its Epidiemiology and Public Health Library, before moving on to Virginia Commonwealth University Library and the University Libraries at the University of Notre Dame. He joined the University of Waterloo in 2011, serving as Associate University Librarian, Research and Digital Discovery Services, managing several departments and programs.

“Well grounded in consortial academic library activities, he understands the Ontario post-secondary educational landscape, and brings a depth of experience in collaborative service and a focus on student outcomes that will serve the Leddy Library and the University well,” says the announcement from the University of Windsor.

“It is the start of a new baseball season, and as I thought of Pascal’s upcoming departure for Windsor, I couldn’t help but think of what a good baseball manager does in such situations – you go to your bench,” wrote Mark Haslett in a memo to the Library distributed on Monday. “We are fortunate to have a “deep bench” in the Library. After consulting with the team’s owner, i.e. the Provost, I have asked Alison Hitchens to be Acting Associate University Librarian, Research & Digital Discovery Services. She has kindly agreed to do so. Alison will bring much to this new role from many angles and I have every confidence that she will do a fine job.” 

Hitchens will serve in the role from April 11, 2016 to April 30, 2017.

Finance Minister visits today; other notes

The interactive town hall session with the Honourable Bill Morneau, Canada’s Minister of Finance, takes place at 2:00 p.m. today in the Sedra Student Design Centre in Engineering 5.

Minister Morneau will discuss the recent budget and the Government of Canada’s plan to grow the economy and support the middle class through investments in post-secondary education, research and innovation. The event will provide students with the unique opportunity to participate in an interactive discussion with Canada’s Minister of Finance, and all are welcome to attend.

This is a reminder that Finance will be moving from East Campus Hall (ECH) to its new home on the fourth floor of East Campus 5 (EC5) starting on Monday, April 11.

IST will be dismantling Finance's computers beginning Friday afternoon for a planned Saturday move, so please be aware that Finance's response times, particularly via e-mail, will be longer than normal during the transition.

Marc Hurwitz, lecturer at the Conrad Business Entrepreneurship and Technology Centre and one of the keynote presenters at this week's Staff Conference, is among the team of editors of a new publication being released today.

"Followership in Action: Cases and Commentaries," published by Emerald Group, is a compilation of articles and is the first-ever teaching resource on followership. Followership is defined as the willingness or capacity of someone to follow a leader, and is a critical part of organizational success.

Hurwitz also contributed two articles to the book.

You may recall that last week the Daily Bulletin published a picture of a raccoon sleeping in a tree. It's rare that raccoons show themselves during the day, and for good reason: it usually means they are sick, possibly with rabies.

While it's never a good idea to get too close to wild animals on campus, as anyone who's tangled with an angry Canada Goose can tell you, it's especially dangerous to approach an animal that may have rabies. Health Services has more information about rabies and safety.

Decepticons at work: GrandLinq will be installing a transformer and other equipment on a section of the Laurel trail just north of Columbia Street on Friday and will be redirecting pedestrian traffic accordingly. Watch for signage indicating alternate routes, and check the ION-related travel disruptions site for more details.