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Volume 30 Number 1
Volume 30 Number 1
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Summer 2013
VOLUME 30, NUMBER 1
Message from the Past -‐ President
Summer?
Summer has passed very quickly for many of us, it seems only a short while since over 200 of us met in Vancouver for the 17th CGNA Biennial conference on: ‘Personhood & Caring: Honouring the Older Adult’s Life Journey’. This newsletter is coming out at the very tail-‐end of summer! Your executive and committee members took the summer off – this issue provides an update from the conference and introduction of the new executive. We won’t wait as long for the fall issue. In this issue one of our Newsletter members Christine Johnson provides an over view of the conference. We have our ‘Meet our Member’ – Bonnie Hall – this year’s recipient of the CGNA Honourary Member. And we have updated the list of Board Members so you can know whom to contact in your province. The members of our new executive posed for a photo at the conference – one of the rare times we actually get to meet in person. The next newsletter will bring greetings from Lynn McCleary our new CGNA President.
Diane Buchanan, RN, PhD, GNC(C)
Past President, CGNA
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17th Biennial Canadian Gerontological Nursing Conference
Vancouver, 2013
The weather cooperated as gerontological nurses from across this country and beyond descended on Vancouver for the 17th Biannual Canadian Gerontological Nursing Conference, May 29 – June 1. The event was entitled, “Personhood and Caring: Honouring the Older Adults’ Life Journey”.
New Executive: Li MacTaggart, Lisa Keeping-‐Burke, Diane Buchanan, Lynn McCleary, Carla Wells, Veronique Boscart
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The opening ceremonies began with the provincial chapter presidents being led by a piper, placing their provincial flags behind the main podium. CGNA President, Diane Buchanan welcomed the group and officially opened the conference. Afterwards a traditional Aboriginal drummer / singer provided the group with inspiration. A fabulous slide show of older adults from areas throughout Asia concluded the evening. The opening ceremonies provided more proof that geriatric nursing can be quite diverse.
Thursday’s program began with sociologist, Dr. Gloria Guttman’s key “Is the Silver Tsunami Fact or Fiction.” Insights included the fact that seniors today are healthier that they had been in previous generations and that hospital lengths of stays have actually decreased over time. According to Dr. Guttman the three plagues facing the older adult are: boredom, helplessness and loneliness and called for the focus to be on wellness promotion and disease / disability prevention. Dr. Guttman provided the group with a thought provoking lecture that certainly helps to debunk some of the more common thoughts and myths.
The second keynote address was delivered by Dr. Kenneth Rockwood a Dalhousie University geriatrician. His discussion focused on the concept of frailty. He describes the frail older adult as a “complex system close to failure and not as a person with multiple diseases”. Dr. Rockwood discussed the frail hospitalized older adult and how sometimes they are medically mismanaged. Functional status often takes a back seat in the scheme of things which leads to increased length of stay and decreased function. Dr. Rockwood stated that often patients will, “walk in well; walk out frail” and that “the patients are not blocking the beds, we are blocking the beds”. As I thought about my own practice in an acute tertiary setting, these words struck a chord and I thought to myself how true his words were. Again a very thought provoking presentation.
Friday morning’s keynote address provided by psychiatrist, Dr. Candida Graham focused on behavior and management strategies for persons with dementia. She started out by stating that 80% of those with Alzheimer’s disease have behavior and psychological symptoms associated with dementia. Often these people have “feelings of inner tension which can manifest in behavior such as shouting /screaming. Therefore it is a guessing game as to what the trigger is, for example, pain, delirium, hallucinations, depression etc. From this base Dr. Graham spoke about three behavior related theories with tips on how to focus interventions. The theories were: learning theory, meeting unmet needs and stress theory. Interventions suggested by Dr. Graham should include non-pharmacologic approaches such as aroma therapy, music and increased family involvement as appropriate. Dr. Graham’s discussion confirmed the effectiveness of interventions that I often struggle to promote in acute care where staff often look for a quick fix.
Saturday’s final presentation consisted of a panel discussion on delirium management. Delirium is a medical emergency in this population but often is ignored or not diagnosed appropriately. The panelists while not presenting new information reaffirmed some of the struggles clinicians deal with when addressing delirium, especially in the older adult.
Violet Budd, Virnie Price, Christine Johnson, Lesleie Dryburgh, Kora Otto-‐Shannon, Lynda
Mandzuk
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Other speakers that presented at the conference included Margaret McPhee, who spoke about her life as someone who lives with chronic illness. Not one to let chronic illness defeat her spirit, she relayed how she lived her life in spite of her illness. Mrs. McPhee was truly inspirational!! Susan McIver and Robin Wyndham also delivered a presentation on transitional care. Transitions can be retirement, chronic illness, the death of a significant other and dying. How people cope is dependent on their internal resources and that transition cannot be avoided. External influences such as family dynamics can help or hinder the transitional process. This made me think of some of the family meetings I have been involved in and how family interacts with one another. Sometimes it is not pleasant and detrimental to the process. However this presentation helped to highlight the struggles a family has when dealing with the transition of their loved ones.
The gala dinner and auction was held Friday evening. The crowd was thoroughly entertained by a seniors group called “The Vaudevillians” who sang, danced and joked their way into our hearts. Another highlight of the evening was the dance-off. I am still trying to figure out how one of the contest winners was able to dance in those extremely high heels!!!
Everyone I spoke with unanimously agreed that the conference was a success. I am sure we all came away more knowledgeable and inspired. The planning committee under the leadership of event co-chairs, Marcia Carr and Patricia Roy are to be commended for their hard work and diligence. Great work everyone!!!!
I hope to see you all in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island in 2015!!!
Submitted by:
Christine Johnson RN GNC(C) and CGNA Newsletter Committee Member
Meet Your Member - Bonnie Hall Bonnie Hall the 2013 CGNA Honourary Member recipient was introduced at the conference by Carla Wells. Bonnie has had a wide and varied career within nursing and in Gerontological Nursing in particular. Bonnie received her Diploma in Nursing from McKellar General Hospital in Fort William ON, her BScN from
University of Ottawa and her MScN from the University of Western Ontario.
Carla began by describing Bonnie’s role as a mentor: “Bonnie Hall has been an exemplar mentor and gerontological nurse. I first met Bonnie in 1991 when she moved to Ottawa to take the Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) position in Care of Older Adults at the Riverside Hospital. I was a CNS at the Perley and Rideau Veteran's Health Centre (at the time it was called The Perley Hospital) and Bonnie came to spend some time with me during her orientation. It didn't take me long to learn what a gifted practitioner she was. She was a member of the Ottawa Chapter of GNA Ontario as well as a member of CGNA. She has served this organization
for over twenty years, in a number of positions and sometimes in more than one position at a time. She worked tirelessly to lead the team developing our initial Standards of Practice. She went on to work on CNA
Front: Lisa Adams, Bonnie Hall Back: Diane Buchanan, Sohani Welcher,
Sharon Moore, Carla Wells
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Certification. She has also re-evaluated the standards. For many years, she co-edited the CGNA Newsletter with Julie Doyon. She has participated in planning a national conference for CGNA, held in Ottawa in 1997. She has participated in numerous planning committees acting as an abstract reviewer. As one letter of support stated, "She was the Newsletter Editor for many years, as Co-editor with Julie Doyon, and she did this job with the professional excellence for which Bonnie is known. Bonnie also chaired the Webinar Committee for several years and again did this with the utmost dedication and professionalism”. In her additional roles with CGNA, she was secretary from 2009-2011.
Bonnie is also well known for her numerous initiatives within gerontological nursing practice. "She has shared these initiatives willingly through presentations at both provincial and national gerontological conferences. She is a published author in gerontological nursing and participated in gerontological nursing research."
Whenever Bonnie was asked to do something, she never refused. Bonnie made you excited to be part of something bigger than all of us. Those of us who know Bonnie admire the exceptional person she is. She was committed to the highest level of gerontological nursing practice, and to older adults everywhere. If you are a member of CGNA, you have benefitted from the thousands of hours that she has donated to this organization. It is indeed my honour to introduce Bonnie Hall, and congratulate Bonnie for receiving an Honourary Life Membership from CGNA in grateful recognition of your significant contribution. As another supporter of her nomination wrote in her letter "She is a nurse who has made, and continues to make a difference."
REPORTS FROM PROVINCIAL REPRESENTATIVES We are not including reports from the provinces in this issue. There will be a CGNA Board meeting at the end of September – the Provincial Boards plan for the coming year and we expect the Fall Issue of the Newsletter to have news on upcoming provincial meetings.
Perspectives Journal: The new Editor for the Perspectives journal Dr. Lorna Guse started this summer; she was the feature Meet our Member in the Winter issue of Perspectives. Welcome Lorna.
NICHE hospitals in Canada Issue Out Soon!
Bonnie Hall 2013 Honourary Member & Beverley Laurila 2011-‐2013 Past-‐President
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Older adults are the primary users of hospital care and services. Many hospitals are developing innovative services for older adults. One such innovation is the application of NICHE principles in Canadian hospitals. NICHE designated hospitals in Canada are developing infrastructures to cope with the complex features that older people and their families bring to the hospital setting. Author Guidelines: Please follow current author guidelines for Perspectives Journal. In addition to these guidelines, an abstract must be submitted of no more than 150 words. Only electronic submissions are accepted.
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Please note:
New Contact Information for CGNA:
CANADIAN GERONTOLOGICAL NURSING ASSOCIATION OFFICE c/o CGNA Office Team, 1202-71 Charles St. E, Toronto, ON M4Y 2T3 T 416.927.8654 F 416.927.8654 E [email protected] W www.cgna.net
CGNA EXECUTIVE
President: Lynn McCleary, RN, BScN, MSc, PhD [email protected]
President Elect: Veronique Boscart RN, MScN, MEd, PhD [email protected]
Treasurer/Membership: Lisa Keeping-Burke, RN, PhD [email protected]
Treasurer Elect: Lilian MacTaggart, RN, BScN, MHSA, CHE, GNC (C) [email protected]
Secretary: Carla Wells, RN, BScN, MN, PhD [email protected]
Past President: Diane Buchanan, RN, MScN, PhD, GNC(C) [email protected]
Research Chair: Jennifer Baumbusch, RN, PhD [email protected] [email protected]
Perspectives Journal Editor: Lorna Guse, RN MScN, PhD, GNC(C) [email protected]
PROVINCIAL REPRESENTATIVES
British Columbia, GNABC President: Liz Ilczaszyn [email protected]
Alberta, AGNA President: Lynne Moulton [email protected]
Manitoba, MGNA President: Leslie Dryburgh [email protected]
New Brunswick, NBGNA President: Dawn Fenton [email protected]
Nova Scotia, NSGNA President: Sohani Welcher [email protected]
Ontario, GNAO President: Lori Schindel Martin [email protected]
Prince Edward Island, PEIGNA President: Elaine Campbell [email protected]
Newfoundland / Labrador , NLGNA, President: Lisa Adams [email protected]
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