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Vivien Lai Changemaker Awards

Vivien worked to ensure that Alberta’s Continuing Care System focused on quality of life for staff and Albertans needing care. She was a committed and influential member of AAG, having served as President of the Edmonton Chapter and the Alberta Board. Vivien was a visionary leader on the Alberta Association on Gerontology’s (AAG) Future Policy Forum/Culture Change Project and Stakeholder Collaborative Committee initiatives where she sought to foster a culture and community conducive to change. Her contributions will have influenced the evolution of continuing care and health aging in Alberta, as well as on those individuals who had the honor of working along side her on many projects and initiatives. She passed away in November 2023; her legacy will continue through these awards.

1. Service Delivery Innovation…For Teams demonstrating innovations in one or both of the following:

  • Implementing culture change for person-centered practice or delivery, focused on meaningful engagement with older Albertans, making a difference in the individual’s quality of lived experience, appreciating differences, and creating an age positive culture including integrating family caregivers.
  • Developing new staffing or education models that create both quality of life for individuals & family care partners and work with meaning for staff, and/or expand education programing closer to students in collaboration between educators and providers.

2. Community-Focused Engagement & Service Development …For Teams demonstrating initiatives that address one or both of the following:

  • Focus on people in communities, moving from a focus on inputs (e.g. health system, payers, buildings and clinicians) to outcomes for people.
  • Embracing cross-sectoral actions as key to integrated community systems and connections that enhance access to community services.

Award criteria for both categories:

  • Demonstrate collaborative engagement—cross-sectoral initiative; multi-party implementation; citizen engagement.
  • Development based on knowledge mobilization and integration of evidence and experiential insights.
  • Clarity of intent and impact measures.
  • Nominees should be front-line transformational leaders or service and support/service development teams, rather than senior organization administrators.
  • Nominees from rural as well as urban settings and organizations of all sizes are encouraged.

Nominations (consisting of a completed Nomination Form and 2 letters of support must be submitted by email only to: info@albertaaging.ca.

Nominations will be accepted annually from February to mid April.

Download | Nomination Form

Decisions will be made by the Awards and Scholarships Committee.
Award Winners will be announced at AAG’s Annual General Meeting in June.

Recognition

Award recipients will receive a plaque and be featured in the AAG Website “News and Views”. Nominees who are not recipients will receive a certificate of recognition.

VIVIEN LAI CHANGEMAKER AWARDS—2024 RECIPIENTS

• FOR SERVICE DELIVERY INNOVATION

United Active Living in Calgary: Innovation of a unique approach for resident integration and relationship centered care. As Canada’s only fully integrated community, United communities have no locked units or restricted floors. Residents with memory loss or cognitive decline live alongside everyone else, allowing them to stay with partners, participate in programs, and actively manage their health directives. Our integrated model is more challenging to implement than traditional ones, but our passionate teams are dedicated to it because it profoundly impacts residents’ lives. Residents of all cognitive abilities are encouraged to pursue their passions and live purposefully in a supportive setting.

Keziah Angeles

Ekaette Etokudo

  • United’s Directors of Health and Wellness, lead the way with their teams in developing and delivering innovative services in United’s communities including:
  • A glossary of terms that helps team members address residents with dignity and respect
  • Personalized cognitive support: An internal document of residents receiving cognitive support services, which focuses on how all team members can best support each resident.

• FOR COMMUNITY-FOCUSED ENGAGEMENT AND SERVICE DEVELOPMENT INNOVATION

  • TAG The Age Collective in Edmonton , is a community initiative dedicated to amplifying diverse voices and narratives around aging through digital storytelling. Our mission is to challenge ageism, highlight the richness of aging experiences, and empower individuals to actively engage in their aging journey. We achieve this by interviewing people of all age groups across Alberta about their aging experiences and transforming these interviews into compelling stories and documentaries shared on our website (theagecollective.com), Instagram (@theagecollective), and YouTube (@TheAgeCollective)

Michelle Goonasekera

Shanuki Goonasekera

  • Co-led by Michelle (on the left side of the picture) and Shanuki Goonasekera, they create infographics to raise awareness of aging issues within the community. As of 2024, The Age Collective has shared the stories of over 30 individuals and produced 26 infographics. Our impact is reflected in our growing online presence, with over 900 followers, 4,000 likes, and 550 shares on Instagram, 1,000 views on YouTube, and 3,000 views on our website. Our project’s findings were also presented at the AGE-WELL conference in Toronto, ON, in 2023, where we received the Best Poster Award.