Caring for the Caregivers of People with Brain Injury: Making it E.A.S.I.E.R.

In this caregiver webinar, Mark Bayley and Judy Gargaro will review the current research literature examining the impact of caregiving on the health of caregivers and interventions designed for caregivers. Findings from a recent collaborative project that codesigned solutions to better support the caregivers of people with brain injury will be discussed. Participants will have an opportunity to ask questions and review online resources. Next steps for implementing the E.A.S.I.E.R. recommendations will also be discussed.

Learning Objectives:

1. Describe the impacts of caregiving on the emotional and brain health of caregivers of people with brain injury and how to effectively meet their needs
2. Identify readily available online resources to support caregivers
3. Discuss six strategies to make caregiving E.A.S.I.E.R.

Speakers:

Mark Bayley, MD, FRCPC, is a clinician scientist at the KITE research institute at University Health Network- Toronto Rehabilitation Institute and a Professor of Medicine at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, in the Division of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Mark is very interested in enhancing rehabilitation outcomes after brain and spinal cord illness and injury. He has led multicenter trials of exercise, technology, and medications combined with exercise to enhance outcomes. He is also interested in how to ensure clinicians follow best practices by leading the development of clinical practice guidelines, implementation toolkits, websites, and smartphone apps. He currently holds the Coriat Family Chair in Rehabilitation Innovations. Mark has held numerous health system leadership roles, including Chair of the Stroke Evaluation Committee at CorHealth Ontario and Vice Chair of the GTA Rehab Network. His work has helped redesign rehabilitation systems in Canada.

Judy Gargaro, M.Ed. is the Manager for the Neurotrauma Care Pathways Initiative and was previously the Program Director for the ABI programme at the Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation (ONF). Judy has been working on the implementation and evaluation of a Neurotrauma Care Pathway Strategy with a focus on how best to support persons with a brain and/or spinal cord injury with comorbidities and who have traditionally been underserved by the healthcare system. Other initiatives include developing a Neurotrauma data strategy to assess quality of care, the Provincial TBI Report Card and the implementation of the Standards and Clinical Practice Guidelines for Concussion/Mild Traumatic Brain Injury and for the Rehabilitation of Moderate to Severe Traumatic Brain Injury. In all this work, Judy collaborates with administrators, clinicians and policy makers to improve the quality of care available to persons after all severities of neurotrauma.

Includes 1 ACBIS CEU.