Posted on Nov. 28: Downtown Centre offers specialized program to home and health care workers from Ontario’s Native communities

More than 120 home and health care workers from Native communities across Ontario will gather at McMaster during December and January to receive specialized training offered through McMaster's Centre for Continuing Education.

The Chiefs of Ontario, with funding from Health Canada, asked McMaster to provide the training to representatives from 135 First Nations communities in Ontario. McMaster is currently the only university in the province to offer extensive programming in case management education.

Over the next eight weeks, three groups of approximately 40 participants each will arrive at McMaster for six days of learning under The First Nations Case Management Training Program. The program gets under way on Monday, Dec. 2 with the first group of participants.

“We have developed a week-long program that has been specially designed by McMaster professor Anju Joshi for the needs of the home and community care workers in various First Nations communities,” says Ruth Nicholson, CCE program co-ordinator. “The program will feature experts who are aboriginal as well as non-aboriginal and we hope it will be culturally relevant and sensitive.”

“We have worked hard to customize the program's content for the participants and we are very fortunate to have the support of a wonderfully committed McMaster faculty to assist in the teaching and delivery of a wide range of subject areas,” says Joshi, associate professor of gerontology. Joshi says learners will enhance their knowledge and skill sets needed to perform the role of a case manager and will be able to critically examine issues that affect the delivery of service. Instruction will cover the areas of advocacy, the health and social concerns of individuals and families in different life stages, legal issues, depression and diabetes, and case management models and approaches.

The program will be delivered by a multi-disciplinary faculty of professionals and includes Wayne Warry, Bill Lee, Irene Turpie, Dawn Martin-Hill, Micheline Gagnon, Kathy MacDonald, Elizabether Latimer and Harriet MacMillan.

Nicholson says the program is being supported by federal funding and is part of a new First Nations and federal government initiative to bring much needed co-ordination to home and community care in Native communities. “The Chiefs of Ontario were impressed with our program and that played a role in their decision to come here. This is really an honour for Hamilton, McMaster and the Downtown Centre, ” said Joshi.

The first session kicks off with a ceremony beginning at 8:30 a.m. on Monday morning (Dec. 2), which will feature aboriginal singer Lisa Longboat, Chiefs of Ontario spokespersons Tracey Antone and Donna Loft, and University President Peter George. Sessions two and three will be held during the weeks of Dec. 9 and Jan. 20.

Wednesday evenings during the program (Dec. 4 and 11 and Jan. 22) have been set aside for cultural and social activities in the University Centre Marketplace. These events are being sponsored by McMaster's Indigenous Studies Program and the Office of the President.

For more information, contact Ruth Nicholson at ext. 24520.

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More than 120 home and health care workers from Native communities across Ontario will gather at McMaster during December and January to receive specialized training offered through McMaster&#039;s Centre for Continuing Education.<P><br />
<br />
The Chiefs of Ontario, with funding from Health Canada, asked McMaster to provide the training to representatives from 135 First Nations communities in Ontario. McMaster is currently the only university in the province to offer extensive programming in case management education.<P><br />
<br />
Over the next eight weeks, three groups of approximately 40 participants each will arrive at McMaster for six days of learning under The First Nations Case Management Training Program. The program gets under way on Monday, Dec. 2 with the first group of participants.<P> <br />
<br />
"We have developed a week-long program that has been specially designed by McMaster professor Anju Joshi for the needs of the home and community care workers in various First Nations communities," says Ruth Nicholson, CCE program co-ordinator. "The program will feature experts who are aboriginal as well as non-aboriginal and we hope it will be culturally relevant and sensitive."<P><br />
<br />
"We have worked hard to customize the program&#039;s content for the participants and we are very fortunate to have the support of a wonderfully committed McMaster faculty to assist in the teaching and delivery of a wide range of subject areas," says Joshi, associate professor of gerontology. Joshi says learners will enhance their knowledge and skill sets needed to perform the role of a case manager and will be able to critically examine issues that affect the delivery of service. Instruction will cover the areas of advocacy, the health and social concerns of individuals and families in different life stages, legal issues, depression and diabetes, and case management models and approaches.<P><br />
<br />
The program will be delivered by a multi-disciplinary faculty of professionals and includes Wayne Warry, Bill Lee, Irene Turpie, Dawn Martin-Hill, Micheline Gagnon, Kathy MacDonald, Elizabether Latimer and Harriet MacMillan. <P><br />
<br />
Nicholson says the program is being supported by federal funding and is part of a new First Nations and federal government initiative to bring much needed co-ordination to home and community care in Native communities. "The Chiefs of Ontario were impressed with our program and that played a role in their decision to come here. This is really an honour for Hamilton, McMaster and the Downtown Centre, " said Joshi.<P><br />
<br />
The first session kicks off with a ceremony beginning at 8:30 a.m. on Monday morning (Dec. 2), which will feature aboriginal singer Lisa Longboat, Chiefs of Ontario spokespersons Tracey Antone and Donna Loft, and University President Peter George. Sessions two and three will be held during the weeks of Dec. 9 and Jan. 20. <P><br />
<br />
Wednesday evenings during the program (Dec. 4 and 11 and Jan. 22) have been set aside for cultural and social activities in the University Centre Marketplace. These events are being sponsored by McMaster&#039;s Indigenous Studies Program and the Office of the President.<P> <br />
<br />
For more information, contact Ruth Nicholson at ext. 24520.<P><br />
<br />
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