Northumberland PACE talks resume – 2019/20 season of health and wellness talks set to launch Sept 18
Now entering its fifth year, Northumberland’s PACE speakers’ series is set to launch its 2019/20 season of health and wellness talks on Wednesday, September 18th.
Inspired by the popular TED Talks, PACE (an acronym for Personalized Assessment and Change Education) aims to share information and spark discussion around a broad range of health and wellness topics that are top of mind with local audiences.
Initiated in 2015 by local IMCare internal medicine specialist Dr. Mukesh Bhargava (now Chief of Staff at Northumberland Hills Hospital), the series was expanded in the fall of 2018 to involve a larger planning group of local health-care partners and patients with an interest in education and knowledge building around health and wellness. Northumberland Hills Hospital (NHH), the Northumberland Hills Hospital Foundation, the Northumberland Family Health Team (NFHT) and the Community Health Centres of Northumberland (CHCN) joined Dr. Bhargava at the PACE planning table last year to build and expand the series, together with patient/caregiver representation from NHH’s Patient and Family Advisory Council (PFAC). Access to the talks was also expanded through a unique collaboration with students at Loyalist College, who record most sessions for viewing via the speakers’ series website, www.pacetalks.com. In September, 2019 Richards Printing joined the planning table, to support printing costs.
Lasting approximately one hour in length, the format for the free PACE events continues to be very simple: a monthly 30-minute talk, a 20-minute question-and-answer period with the guest speaker and a 10-minute moderator summary. Tickets are FREE, but must be reserved in advance in order to manage room occupancy. Sessions rotate monthly between the community education rooms at the Community Health Centres of Northumberland (99 Toronto Road, in Port Hope) and Northumberland Hills Hospital (1000 DePalma Drive, Cobourg).
“Our team will continue to collect topic and speaker ideas from session attendees and the community at large,” said Dr. Bhargava, “and we will continue to observe the founding principles of PACE, namely:
- the speaker or speakers must speak for free (no honorarium);
- sponsorships will not be accepted (to avoid bias);
- there will be no solicitation at the events; and,
- our talks are offered as conversation starters, not individualized medical advice.”
The 2019/20 PACE season will kick off on Wednesday, September 18th in the Port Hope location (99 Toronto Road) with guest speaker Karen Truter, a local resident and Nurse Practitioner, on the topic: “Understanding memory loss, prevention and treatment.” Next up, on Wednesday, October 16th, is a talk titled “Music therapy – the science and benefits”.
Register early to save your seat!
Registration for the September 2019 session is now open at www.pacetalks.com. Talks are held monthly, September through June, on the third Wednesday of the month. A listing of all the talks planned for the 2019/20 season will also be found on this website, and below. Note: registration for future sessions opens approximately 3 weeks prior to the event.
Please bring your questions, your suggestions and your experience and join in what is expected to be another season of lively discussion this month. If you have a smart phone, we invite you to bring it, to participate in real-time event feedback. No smart phone? Not a problem. Audience feedback is also gathered without the help of technology.
Reminder – this and all PACE talks are FREE, but pre-registration is required to manage room capacity. Register for the September 2019 talk today at www.pacetalks.com, where you will also find highlights from the 2018/19 season’s talks.