SPEAKER BIOS 

 

Charleen Barkman   | Heather Blackman   |   Dr. Cary A. Brown

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Sarah Dueck | Nancy Fiebelkorn   | Meagan Fitzpatrick  |  Jessica Harper  | Linda Hilash | Samantha Holland

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Dr. Jillian Horton | Tracy Klawuhn | Carey Lai - 赖家義   |   Dr. Christine Leong

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Dr. Mario Masellis |  Lori Orchard  |  Dr. Shahin Shooshtari   |   Dr. Lois Stewart-Archer

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Ashley Smith (he/him) | Faye Tardiff | Leslie Udell   |  Shannon Walowetz |   Dr. Kim Wiebe 

 

Charleen Barkman

Charleen has a background in psychiatric nursing and has spent the majority of her career in a long-term care setting. Now semi-retired, she continues to provide dementia care education to staff in the southern region of Manitoba. She is passionate about helping caregivers understand dementia, an undertaking that leads to better interventions and connections with people and families affected by the disease.
Thursday, June 15 - A New Way of Looking at Responsive Behaviours

 

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Heather Blackman

Heather’s health care career in the field of recreation has spanned over 25 years. With a diploma in Rehabilitation Services from Lakeland College, she began facilitating recreation in long term care before finding her passion in community recreation through the Adult Day Program Services. For the past 22 years she has held the position of Adult Day Program Coordinator at Simkin Centre. Over the course of the pandemic, Heather guided the Simkin Centre Adult Day Program through new initiatives via successful virtual programming which is currently being expanded upon to reach out further to socially isolated seniors who are community based.
Thursday, November 16 - Meaningful Engagement of People with Dementia in Physical Activities

 

Dr. Cary A. Brown

Dr. Brown is a tenured professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Rehabilitation, University of Alberta. She has worked as an occupational therapist in Canada and Saudi Arabia and as an educator in the United Kingdom and Canada. Her research areas include sleep, chronic pain, dementia, knowledge translation and, most recently, the human-animal bond as it relates to well-being and successful aging. She has developed a number of educational websites for health care providers and patients, one of which received an award from the Canadian Pain Society.
Thursday, August 17 - Sleep Matters: Understanding the Relationship between Sleep & Dementia

 

 

Sarah Dueck

Sarah completed her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Manitoba with a major in Sociology, a minor in Recreation and Community Development, and a specialization in Ageing. She spent a few years working in therapeutic recreation in a personal care home before pursuing her Applied Counselling Certificate. Looking to expand her interactions with seniors and to support care partners and persons living with dementia, she joined the client support team at the Alzheimer Society of Manitoba in 2020. Sarah enjoys the connections she makes with clients in both one-on-one and group settings as she works to support both care partners and persons living with dementia as they navigate living with the disease.
Thursday, January 11 - Engaging Family Care Partners as Part of the Care Team

 

Nancy Fiebelkorn

Nancy has been a social worker for 20 years, spending most of her career at Deer Lodge Centre. She worked with residents in long-term care on the special needs and veteran care units, as well as in geriatric rehabilitation. For the last seven years she has worked as a Case Manager with the PRIME program, an interdisciplinary initiative that works to keep at-risk seniors residing in their own homes for as long as possible.
Thursday, January 11 - Engaging Family Care Partners as Part of the Care Team

 

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Meagan Fitzpatrick

Meagan has been a Client Support Coordinator at the Alzheimer Society of Manitoba since January 2021. She is a registered social worker and previously worked in long-term care. She has a passion to see an increased public awareness and implementation of dementia care strategies and knowledge to help improve the quality of life of those living with dementia and the people who care for them.
Thursday, July 27 (IN-PERSON) - Integrating Practical Approaches to Responsive Behaviour in Dementia Care

 

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Jessica Harper

Jessica is the First Link® Client Support Manager with the Alzheimer Society of Manitoba. She is a registered social worker, with ten years of experience providing support to seniors in various capacities. Currently, she oversees all aspects of the Society’s client services, including direct one-on-one counselling, support groups for both persons with dementia and their care partners, and outreach to the health and social services sectors. An expert in dementia programs, Jessica leads a diverse team, helping individuals and families navigate the difficult dementia journey and ensuring they are connected to supports that are right for them.
Thursday, July 13 - Understanding the Care Needs of 2SLGBTQ+ Older Adults

 

Linda Hilash

Linda Hilash has been a social worker in health care for 32 years, specializing mostly with seniors. She has worked in London, England, St. Boniface Hospital, Riverview Health Centre, Deer Lodge Centre as well as in personal care homes (PCH). Linda currently works in the area of dementia care on the special needs and special need behavior units at Deer Lodge Centre. In her role, Linda helps to ease the transition for residents and families into a personal care. She currently also runs a family support group on site for families of residents. Linda works with the team at Deer Lodge Centre to best meet the needs of the residents and families.
Thursday, January 11 - Engaging Family Care Partners as Part of the Care Team

 

Samantha Holland

Sam is a registered social worker who is employed as the Regional Coordinator at the Alzheimer Society’s Interlake-Eastern office in Selkirk. In her role, she assists individuals and families impacted by dementia across the region and beyond, providing support, education and dementia-friendly programming. She has also worked to bring back and facilitate a specialized Ambiguous Loss Support Group for care partners.
Thursday, July 27 (IN-PERSON) - Integrating Practical Approaches to Responsive Behaviour in Dementia Care

 

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Dr. Jillian Horton

Dr. Horton is an associate professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Manitoba. Her writings about medicine and medical culture appear regularly in the Los Angeles Times, The Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, Maclean’s and a variety of American news outlets by syndication. She is a sought-after speaker and teacher of mindfulness for clinicians, both nationally and internationally. In 2020 she received the Gold Humanism award by the Association of Faculties of Medicine in Canada for her national contributions to compassion in clinical care and her leadership in the field of humanities in medical education. Her first full-length book, We Are All Perfectly Fine: A Memoir of Love, Medicine and Healing, was released by HarperCollins Canada in February 2021 to critical acclaim and is a national bestseller.
Thursday, May 18 - Turning Towards, Not Away: Caring for Others While Caring for Yourself

 

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Tracy Klawuhn

Tracy has worked with non-profit organizations to provide residential, day and independent living services in a variety of capacities for 25 years. Currently the Director of Services at Winnserv Inc., Tracy’s role is to oversee services provided to people with intellectual disabilities in residential and supported independent living environments. Over the past 15 years Tracy has worked in contract roles supporting people with lived experience with a disability. She is a certified trainer with Nonviolent Crisis Intervention® in its Autism and Trauma Informed Supports area. As well, she is a trained End of Life Doula and an affiliated provincial trainer in dementia with the National Task Group on Intellectual Disabilities and Dementia Practices®.
Thursday, November 30 (IN-PERSON) - Dementia and Its Impact on People with an Intellectual Disability

 

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Carey Lai - 赖家義

Carey is a graduate of the pharmacy program at the University of Manitoba. He is a practicing pharmacist and has owned the Leila Pharmacy in Winnipeg for the past 13 years. Throughout his career, Carey has had a variety of experiences in the health care system. He taught pharmacology, was the Regional Manager for the COVID Vaccine Implementation Team with Shared Health, and he served as Director of Strategic Initiatives at the Department of Mental Health and Community Wellness with the Government of Manitoba. Carey is passionate about providing education, especially in the field of mental health. He is a certified concurrent disorder counsellor, a mental health first aid instructor and a trainer with the National Task Group on Intellectual Disabilities and Dementia Practices®.
Thursday, November 30 (IN-PERSON) - Dementia and Its Impact on People with an Intellectual Disability

 

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Dr. Christine Leong

Dr. Leong is an associate professor at the College of Pharmacy, with a cross appointment at the Department of Psychiatry, Max Rady College of Medicine at the University of Manitoba (UM). She received her Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Toronto and her Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy from UM. She has practice experience as a clinical pharmacist at an interprofessional teaching family medicine clinic. In her practice she often performs medication assessments for patients on six or more medications to optimize medication therapy. Using pharmacoepidemiology and qualitative methods, Dr. Leong’s main areas of research are in primary care, mental health, drug use optimization and psychotropic medication use. Her projects include the use of administrative data to evaluate medication exposure in Manitoba from a population perspective. Her current research involves describing the trend of psychotropic medication use before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Manitoba.
Thursday, February 15 - Dos & Don'ts of Medication Management in Dementia

 

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Dr. Mario Masellis

Dr. Masellis has obtained a Master of Science in Pharmacology, a Doctor of Medicine and a Doctorate in Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Toronto, and he has board certification (FRCP Canada) in Neurology. He has completed a clinical research fellowship in Cognitive and Movement Disorders Neurology. His clinical expertise is in the diagnosis and management of both Alzheimer’s and non-Alzheimer’s dementias, including Lewy body disorders, frontotemporal dementia, progressive supranuclear palsy and corticobasal syndrome. His research focuses on how genomic factors impact neuroimaging and cognitive phenotypes, as well as response to drugs in neurodegenerative diseases.
Wednesday, September 13 - It Isn't Just Memory Loss: Changes in Movement, Behaviour and Social Skills in Dementia

 

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Lori Orchard

Lori is the Coordinator of Adult Fitness Programs at the Wellness Institute and a group leader for the Alzheimer Society of Manitoba’s Minds in Motion® program. She is a certified personal trainer for Spin, Stott Pilates, Resistance Training, Aqua, Active Older Adult, Barre and AntiGravity programs. Lori has over 40 years of experience in the health and fitness industry.
Thursday, November 16 - Meaningful Engagement of People with Dementia in Physical Activities

 

Dr. Shahin Shooshtari

Dr. Shooshtari is a professor in Community Health Sciences, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba (UM). She is also a researcher with St. Amant Research Centre, an affiliate researcher with the Centre on Aging at UM and an adjunct scientist with Manitoba Centre for Health Policy at UM. Dr. Shooshtari’s interdisciplinary program of research is focused on the health and well-being of persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities. She is mentoring a number of graduate and undergraduate students in this program, linking areas of community health, aging and disability. She is published extensively with her colleagues and trainees in these areas. In recognition of her teaching and research excellence, as well as her service, Dr. Shooshtari has received a number of awards from UM, community organizations and international associations.
Thursday, November 30 (IN-PERSON) - Dementia and Its Impact on People with an Intellectual Disability

 

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Dr. Lois Stewart-Archer

Dr. Stewart-Archer is the Regional Clinical Nurse Specialist with the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority’s Rehabilitation, Healthy Aging and Seniors Care. She is also a research affiliate with the Manitoba Centre for Nursing and Health Research. Dr. Stewart-Archer provides: consultations regarding the management of challenging issues related to older adults with mental health/psychiatric concerns; clinical education and supervision; policy/protocol and clinical practice guideline development. She is also a certified facilitator and coach of various dementia and intellectual disability education programs. Dr. Stewart-Archer has represented Manitoba on various professional advisory panels and has served on committees of professional colleges. She regularly reviews items for publication for international medical journals, has several notable publications herself and frequently presents at conferences. She enjoys working with older adults and strongly endorses maintenance of their dignity, spirit and independence.
Thursday, November 30 (IN-PERSON) - Dementia and Its Impact on People with an Intellectual Disability
Thursday, December 14 - Link Between Dementia and Mental Illness

 

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Ashley Smith (he/him)

Ashley is of settler descent, living in Winnipeg - Treaty One territory. He is currently Director of Advocacy at Rainbow Resource Centre—Canada’s longest continuously serving 2SLGBTQ+ resource centre. In this role, he oversees the education and communications teams as Rainbow builds Place of Pride, the new queer campus at 545 Broadway that will include Canada’s first affordable housing for 2SLGBTQ+ older adults.

For the last couple of years, Ashley developed Over The Rainbow, Rainbow Resource Centre’s older adult programming. Historically he has worked with local and national queer and ally organizations in the research and development of resources specific to 2SLGBTQ+ aging, health, and long-term care.

His role at Rainbow Resource Centre unites a life-long passion for gay culture, storytelling, and a respect for elders.
Thursday, July 13 - Understanding the Care Needs of 2SLGBTQ+ Older Adults

 

Faye Tardiff

Thursday, March 21 - Cultural Safety and Senior Care

 

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Leslie Udell

Leslie has spent 35 years supporting adults with intellectual disabilities, specializing in healthy aging, dementia supports and end-of-life care. She has written chapters in two books focused on dementia and people with an intellectual disability. Currently she is a member of the National Task Group (NTG) Canadian Consortium and is a master trainer for the NTG Canada-Dementia Capable Support of Adults with Intellectual Disabilities and Dementia course. Leslie works closely with Palliative Manitoba to offer the communications section of its Compassionate Care Course designed for volunteers, health care aides and staff who support people with an intellectual disability.
Thursday, November 30 (IN-PERSON) - Dementia and Its Impact on People with an Intellectual Disability

 

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Shannon Walowetz

Shannon has worked within the disability sector for 18 years. She spent time as an employment facilitator in Brandon before making a move to Community Living Disability Services. She has worked as a resource coordinator with Innovative Life Options for the last 13 years. In this role, she provides resources, guidance and information to Manitobans living with intellectual disabilities, assisting them to build and sustain a strong and vibrant support network. She is a leader and facilitator with a passion for education, and she loves to share her knowledge. Shannon is a provincial Vulnerable Person’s Act facilitator and a trainer with the National Task Group on Intellectual Disabilities and Dementia Practices. She is also part of the Social Role Valorization steering committee.
Thursday, November 30 (IN-PERSON) - Dementia and Its Impact on People with an Intellectual Disability

 

Dr. Kim Wiebe

Dr. Wiebe trained in internal medicine, critical care, addictions medicine, public health and palliative care. Her employment experience includes working as Medical Director of the Organ Donor Organization in Manitoba. She is currently Medical Director of the Manitoba Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) service.
Thursday, October 19 - What’s NEW with Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD)

 

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