A new award was launched at SHRF's 21st Annual Santé Awards. The "Recognizing SHRF Connections" award recognizes individuals and teams who have contributed significantly to Saskatchewan’s research community by volunteering their time and sharing their invaluable experience and expertise, even though research is not a requirement of their roles.
You can read more about the five outstanding award recipients below.
Heather Dyck
Patient-Centred Pre- and Post-Operative Care
Heather has provided outstanding contributions for the Provincial Department of
Anesthesiology as a patient partner and co-investigator, in multiple research programs, from virtual preoperative assessments to improving care for older patients with cognitive impairments. Heather has actively shaped research objectives through her passion and experience as a rural patient and former caregiver who has used Telehealth, telephone, and Zoom to access primary care, specialist consultations, and post-surgical care in Saskatchewan. Heather ensures that the rural patient perspective is central to research team discussions, articulating their unique needs and priorities. As she says, she “keeps the patient perspective where it belongs—at the heart of research and health system advances."
Heather’s invaluable contributions have centered patient and caregiver voices and priorities in study objectives, methods, and knowledge translation activities. She co-created an educational campaign on postoperative delirium, including co-producing two YouTube videos, a podcast interview, educational posters, and pamphlets, and co-delivering community outreach presentations. Her active involvement in co-developing the materials and then sharing them with appropriate audiences has been a key factor in the success of this educational campaign. Heather’s ongoing engagement informs our team’s efforts to co-develop a perioperative pathway aimed at reducing postoperative delirium in older patients with cognitive impairment in the SHA.
Heather’s commitment, professionalism, and dedication to patient-centered research have significantly strengthened our research programs and have directly enhanced healthcare for patients in Saskatchewan. Patient Oriented Research at the level the Provincial Department of Anesthesiology pursues is not yet the norm everywhere, but Heather is thankful that Anesthesiology is advancing the concept at a pace that means real patients like her, see the benefits in real time, and so does the health system. Health research that matters to patients and benefits the health system lead to advances is health care at a rate that is many times faster than traditional research methods.
Pelican Narrows Community Research Team: Sally Sewap, Marie Custer, Ravonne Custer, Shannon Hammar, Tracey Sewap, and Elder Rose Dorion
Increasing Access to Community-Directed Rehabilitation and Pain Management
The importance of the First Nation community champions in collaborative, Indigenous community led projects cannot be overstated. These six incredible women have ensured the sustainability and guidance for numerous research grants in the area of increasing access to rehabilitation through virtual and hybrid care models. Elder Rose and Knowledge Keeper Sally contributed to development of a Community-Directed Pain Scale (published), directed by Elder Rose; and they have co-authored an additional submission to an Indigenous Guidebook (University of Manitoba) which has been accepted. Knowledge Keeper Sally Sewap has led the development of a project to create a Cree language back pain management brochures as a result of needs identified during the research. This original brochure quickly expanded to involve brochures and videos developed in 6 First Nation and Metis languages in partnership with Elders, Knowledge and Language Keepers. Marie Custer has contributed subsequently to a CIHR Patient Oriented Research project for which she has participated as a patient partner and a co-author on manuscripts. Shannon Hammar, Tracy Sewap and Ravonne Custer have contributed with scheduling, communications, translation, and data collection for two large SHRF grants all while doing their usual very busy tasks as Licensed Practical Nurses in the Angelique Canada Health Centre.
This incredible team has worked hard since 2019 to expand research in the area of enhancing access to rehabilitation care through remote presence in their community. They are experts in relationship development, community processes, needs and preferences.
Kayla DeMong
Championing Evidence-Informed Change
As the Executive Director of Prairie Harm Reduction (PHR), Kayla DeMong provides exceptional leadership and unwavering commitment to serving her organization and our larger community. She works tirelessly to enhance the organization’s profile, services, and programs by engaging stakeholders across the health, business, media, governance, and education sectors in Saskatchewan. Her advocacy, strategic planning, and engagement have advanced PHR’s mission to improve community quality of life through top-tier harm reduction services.
Ms. DeMong excels in promoting community-focused innovation through research partnerships, providing unparalleled leadership as a co-investigator.
She bridges gaps between academic and human service systems, fostering respectful relationships that enhance the research environment and build research team capacity. This collaborative environment encourages critical thinking and trust, essential for collaborative, evidence-informed change.
Kayla’s efforts to reduce stigma towards people who use drugs, promote long-term partnerships between researchers and service providers, and foster collaboration and research innovation. Her dedication and commitment to the community are evident in her work, which goes beyond traditional research approaches to build and sustain genuine relationships.
Theresa Robertson and the Team at Saskatoon Rehabilitation Centre
Collaborating for Neurorehabilitation and Recovery
Conducting health research that is meaningful and relevant to the people of Saskatchewan and that leads to impactful change requires collaboration with the leaders and care providers in our provincial health services. This type of work tends to be passion driven and is above and beyond regular job duties. Theresa Robertson is the Director of Rehabilitation Services, Continuing Care Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Health Authority. The neurological rehabilitation team, programs and services at Saskatoon City Hospital are in her portfolio. However, since City Hospital is only 1 of 2 tertiary (specialized) rehab centres in Saskatchewan, the neurologically programming has somewhat of a provincial scope and serves as a provincial resource. Supporting research involving the health care providers, or piloting new models of care for people with neurological rehabilitation can be complex, time consuming, increases workload, requires advocacy and sometimes difficult conversations - but that has never stopped or limited Theresa’s willingness to collaborate. Theresa has worked to help navigate policy and procedures to support innovation within the SHA (e.g., hiring a PT dedicated to MS as part of the ‘building towards a neuro-recovery model of care in MS physical rehabilitation’ project and co-leading with Dr. Sarah Donkers, the “Increasing Accessibility to Neurorehabilitation Services in Saskatchewan” project). Theresa is a co-lead and founding member of the 'Provincial Therapy Directors Committee' - bringing together all Directors from across the SHA who have therapy providers in their portfolio, and this committee has been instrumental in advancing work on a provincial neurorehab needs assessment.
Led by Theresa, the dedicated team of healthcare providers, staff, and administrators at Saskatoon Rehabilitation Centre, 7th Floor City Hospital, actively participate in, collaborate on, and consult on continuous requests for information, input, and ideas. They have wholeheartedly embraced and implemented change and innovation and continue to provide impactful and meaningful collaborations especially in neurological rehabilitation.
