Compassionate Communities in Action: From Inspiration to Implementation to Sustainability 

A part of the CHPCA Learning Institute Series, this session will take place Thursday, June 25 11:30am to 3:00pm (Eastern).

About this Session

CHPCA has 20 FULL scholarships available for this session. Complete this form to be entered into the draw and you will be notified by June 22 if your name has been drawn. If you have already registered for this session, enter to win a full scholarship to any other Learning Institute session. 

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A Compassionate Community aims to mobilize community members through education and awareness raising to provide support to those living with declining health, including dementia, in their community. Evidence from Compassionate Community approaches shows that involving communities can make a practical difference in meeting persons’ needs. By strengthening caring social networks, these approaches help support individuals who may otherwise fall through gaps in the healthcare system, while also improving outcomes for caregivers. 

In this Learning Institute session, we invite participants to learn about implementing compassionate community interventions from two projects that aimed to improve quality of life for those facing declining health, including those living with dementia. The Compassionate, Dementia Inclusive Communities (CDIC) project, supported by a contribution from Health Canada, was implemented in six sites across Canada with the aim of reducing stigma, raising awareness, and offering supports for people living with dementia to age in place. The Compassionate Community Volunteer Navigation (CCVN) project, funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, is currently implementing a model of compassionate volunteer navigation in four rural communities in British Columbia.

Learning Outcomes

Through a combination of presentations, case studies, breakout groups, and dialogue workshops, participants will be able to: 

  • Describe key principles of compassionate community approaches; 
  • Explain how volunteer navigators support older persons’ social, emotional, and practical needs; 
  • Identify essential components of successful implementation of compassionate community initiatives; 
  • Describe the Compassionate Community Index survey and its application in assessing community readiness to becoming a more compassionate community.
  • Identify and articulate the value of cross-sector partnerships and recognize barriers and facilitators that influence partnership success when supporting older persons aging in place; 
  • Describe strategies for sustaining compassionate community initiatives beyond project funding.

Session Agenda

TIME (Eastern) TOPIC
11:30 – 11:50 Welcome, land acknowledgment, introductions and scaffolding:

  • Introduction to the two projects this learning institute is based upon.
11:50 – 12:50 PANEL DISCUSSION: VISIONING & IMPLEMENTING COMPASSIONATE COMMUNITY INITIATIVES

  • Panelists will describe the interventions that they undertook as part of this project: What they did, who was it for, where did it occur, when did it occur & how did it all go?
  • Q&A
12:50 – 1:00 Break
1:00 – 1:45 PANEL DISCUSSION: BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS TO ANIMATE COMPASSIONATE COMMUNITIES

  • Panelists will explain their different contexts, and how those contexts affect the way they approach building partnerships, the strengths, barriers, and other considerations etc.).
  • Q&A
1:45 – 2:05 PANEL DISCUSSION: ENVISIONING VOLUNTEERISM

  • Panelists will talk about the successes and challenges in terms of bringing volunteers into the project and sharing stories that might inspire others to become involved in this work.
  • Q&A
2:05 – 2:15 Break
2:15 – 2:30 PRESENTATION: COMPASSIONATE COMMUNITY INDEX

  • Presenters will describe how the CCI was used in this project.
  • Q&A
2:30 – 2:45 PANEL DISCUSSION: SUSTAINABILITY

  • Panelists will discuss factors that influence the sustainability of compassionate community interventions.
  • Q&A
2:45 – 3:00 Wrap-up

Register for this Session

Compassionate Communities in Action: From Inspiration to Implementation to Sustainability
Thursday, June 25th 2026, 11:30am – 3:00pm EST

Learning Institute Session Facilitators

Dr. Barbara Pesut 

Dr. Barbara Pesut is a Professor in the School of Nursing at UBC’s Okanagan campus. She co-created the Nav-CARE Volunteer Navigation Toolkit (along with Dr. Wendy Duggleby, Professor Emerita, University of Alberta). Her research centres on palliative care, rural and remote care, and medical assistance in dying. 

Dr. Gloria Puurveen

Dr. Gloria Puurveen is the Project Manager and Knowledge Translation Lead for Nav-CARE at UBC’s Okanagan campus. She has a background in community-based dementia research and supports the implementation and evaluation of the ‘Compassionate, Dementia Inclusive Communities’ and ‘Compassionate Community – Volunteer Navigation’ projects.

Melody Jobse

Melody Jobse is a Community Engagement Lead with the BC Centre for Palliative Care and supports the CDIC and CCVN projects. She is invested in building capacity and growing Compassionate Communities that support people who are affected by a serious illness, end of life, death, and the grieving experience; and is motivated to connect people, passion, and knowledge for the greater good. 

Heather Neale Furneaux, MFA, B.Ed, B.A

Heather Neale Furneaux is a knowledge translation specialist working with the CDIC project. She is also a writer and research coordinator with the Dementia Action Co-Lab in the Faculty of Health at the University of Victoria. Heather brings an extensive background in PR, journalism, and community engagement to these roles, as well as a passion for storytelling as a vehicle of social change.