Our thanks go to Dr. Jo-Anne Clarke who is stepping down as chair of the RCA Frail Senior Advisory Committee.

Dr. Clarke has chaired the committee since the RCA was created in 2013. She is a geriatrician (the first to practice in northeastern Ontario) and medical director of the North East Specialized Geriatric Centre at Health Sciences North.

Dr. Clarke’s expertise and advocacy for frail older adults within the health system has been invaluable to the RCA’s work. Under her leadership, the RCA advanced rehabilitative care for older adults with frailty across the province through the following initiatives: 

  • Developing the Direct Access Priority Process (DAPP) to support early identification of individuals with restorative potential who require inpatient rehabilitative care and can be admitted directly from the community 
  • Providing input on the Ministry of Health’s development of the Assess & Restore Guideline and reporting metrics  
  • Developing and piloting two pathways to rehabilitative care for frail older adults in the community who present to primary care or the emergency department after a fall

Dana Corsi, who led the recent development of the RCA’s Frail Seniors Rehabilitative Care Best Practice Framework, will take over as committee chair. Dana is the regional geriatric rehab lead for the North East Specialized Geriatric Centre.