McMaster Continuing Education Receives Award of Excellence for Caregiving Program

By: Margaux Morgante, Marketing Specialist, McMaster University Continuing Education

This week, CAUCE (Canadian Association for University Continuing Education) announced its Program Award winners for 2020. Among the winners was McMaster University Continuing Education’s open access no-cost online program, Caregiving Essentials.

A program that supports informal caregivers including family caregivers of older adults, Caregiving Essentials has served over 600 caregivers since it was first launched in Fall 2018. The development and launch of the program were first funded by the Ontario Ministry of Seniors Affairs. Additional funding received from the Regional Geriatrics Programs of Ontario has enabled its continued success.

Lorraine Carter, Director, McMaster Continuing Education, stated that this program has been a rewarding experience and excellent example of community collaboration, “McMaster Continuing Education is particularly grateful to the McMaster Institute for Research on Aging, THRIVE group, Desire2Learn, and the many other community and educational partners in the Hamilton region and across the province who have made this program possible.”

Given the COVID-19 crisis, McMaster Continuing Education recently announced that the Caregiving Essentials program was valuable to anyone new to caregiving. Many of the principles and realities of providing care in a family or informal context are the same regardless of diagnosis. At the same time, McMaster University has asked that all caregivers consult healthcare providers and/or public health for evidence-based guidance in the case of illness, including COVID-19.

For more information about this timely program, please visit continuing.mcmaster.ca/caregiving-essentials/

The CAUCE Program Awards “recognize excellence in university continuing education programs in Canada and aim to nurture the concept of scholarship of practice inherent in the program development process.” All of the award winners can be found here.