Health Canada Awards $2.2 Million to Nav-CARE Program
March 22, 2021
Health Canada has awarded $2.2 million to expand Nav-CARE to connect people living at home with declining heath with specially trained volunteers who help them access resources and services in their community while providing companionship and emotional support.
Developed by UBC Okanagan’s School of Nursing researchers and the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Nursing, Nav-CARE received initial research funding through a Wall Solutions Grant.
“Nav-CARE got its start through generous funding from the PWIAS solutions-focussed initiative,” says Dr. Barb Pesut, professor of Nursing and Principal Research Chair in Palliative and End-of-Life Care. “We’re so grateful for that funding. It allowed us to work strategically with communities to try something new and unconventional. We wouldn’t be where we are now without the PWIAS taking the risk on a new idea.”
The new Health Canada funding will support the scale up of the program, with 15 entries of excellence and 30 satellite sites. It will also help create an online adaptation of Nav-CARE’s toolkit and training, as well as adapt the program’s materials for Francophones, Indigenous people and those caring for people with dementia.
This is great news for the program, which has been significantly impacted by COVID-19.
“All volunteers/clients had to stop in person visiting and go virtual,” says Dr. Pesut. “We completed a small study exploring how that went and are just writing that up. In our next iteration of the Toolkit we’ve created a whole module on establishing virtual connections.”
Read more about the $2.2 Million Health Canada funding
Visit Nav-CARE for more info about this program.
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