Menu Close

Futures Policy Forum Webinar #6

Topic: Valuing Care and Family Caregivers

The sixth FREE webinar of the AAG Futures Policy Forum took place on Wednesday, January 18th, 2023. View the recording, Webinar #6 Speaker Slides and other resources below.

Read Webinar #6 Report

Watch the recording!

Description

Did you know that family caregiving work is not accounted for in the GDP? Without data on value, caregiving is invisible in the Canadian economy. Economist Dr. Janet Fast says “Family caregiving is often ignored because it is unpaid, undervalued, hidden in the privacy of homes and care facilities and done primarily by women.

Webinar #6 Speakers

  • Jane Badets: What is the Care Economy?”
    • Senior Advisor Statistics Canada, Jane will highlight key findings from new data on the care economy collected in the summer of 2022 and released in fall 2022, from the Canadian Social Survey. Jane will talk about the new data on paid and unpaid care for children and adults with long-term conditions or disabilities, and the impacts of providing care
    • Jane is the former Assistant Chief Statistician of Social, Health and Labour Statistics at Statistics Canada. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Association of Canadian Studies, and for the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES); and has also served on other boards such as for the Canadian Institute of Health Information (CIHI) and the Canadian Research Data Centre Network (CRDCN). In 2019, Jane was a co-recipient of the Mike McCracken Award in Economic Statistics.
    • View Speaker’s Slides: Badets Care economy presentation – Alberta webinar final
  • Dr. Janet Fast “Family Caregivers The Economic Value of Care Work”
    • Professor, Department of Human Ecology, University of Alberta, Dr. Fast will focus on the economic value of family caregivers and new research on how caregiving impacts employed family caregivers and employers.
    • Dr. Fast holds a doctorate in Family and Consumer Economics from Cornell University. Throughout her career, Dr. Fast has engaged in research, policy and practice with a focus on the economics of aging and the paid work and unpaid care work of family members. She currently co-leads an international and multidisciplinary research team investigating the intersection of work and care across the life course. She is a member of the leadership teams of two transdisciplinary, international research programs: AGE-WELL and the UK-based Sustainable Care: Connecting People and Systems program.
    • View Speaker’s Slides: Fast 2023-01-18 AAG webinar Fast slides FINAL ppt
  • Dr. Richard Lewanczuk “Supporting Family Caregivers as Alberta Moves to Integrated Care Closer to Home”
    • Senior Medical Director for Health System Integration for Alberta Health Services (AHS), Dr. Lewanczuk will speak about the vision of his portfolio is to “Help Albertans be as healthy, well and independent as they can be in their homes and communities”. To achieve this vision, AHS is working towards shifting its focus from facility-based care to community-based care, and from reactive illness care to maintaining health and wellness.
    • He previously served as Medical Director of Chronic Disease Management for the Capital Health Authority and with the creation of AHS, served as Senior Medical Director for Primary Health Care for 10 years. Dr. Lewanczuk, Professor Emeritus at the University of Alberta co-chairs the Department of Medicine Working Group on Social Determinants of Health. Dr. Lewanczuk has recently been named a co-chair of one of Alberta’s Task Groups focused on primary care reform .
    • View Speaker’s Slides: Lewanczuk AAG Jan 18 2023
  • Johnna Lowther “Supporting Alberta’s Caregivers: Valuing their Care.”
    • Director of Programs and Services Caregivers Alberta, Johnna will share Caregivers Alberta’s practical support for caregivers and strategies Caregivers Alberta is using to develop a system of supports for caregivers.
    • Johnna Lowther is always looking for opportunities to join forces with people and projects who believe in work for a greater social purpose. Johnna joined Caregivers Alberta in May of 2019, directing programs and services for one million family caregivers across Alberta. Working in the field of human services for over 20 years, her passion for supporting persons living with dementia has her hosting Life With Dementia podcast and also led her to publish a 2014 book “Through the Eyes of Dementia” a pocket guide to caregiving.
    • View Speaker’s Slides: Johnna AAG Caregivers AB Jan 18 2023 webinar