By Cecilia Nasmith

Physician-Patient Interaction – The Changing Landscape for Better Care is the topic that kicks off a new Northumberland PACE Talk season on Oct. 20.

This session is a panel format, featuring Dr. Jackie Gardner-Nix and Dr. Kaes Al-Ali, moderated by retired Northumberland Hills Hospital Patient and Family Advisory Council member Bill Prawecki. It will be carried on Zoom, starting at 5:30 p.m.

Dr. Gardner-Nix has been on courtesy staff at NHH since 2014 and has focused much of her career on chronic pain management. She trained in the renowned Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and evolved this program to meet the needs of those suffering from chronic pain, developing the Mindfulness-Based Chronic Pain Management program, which supports patients in learning skills for changing their relationship with pain, suffering and stress, and for developing new habits that involve neuroplastic changes in the brain. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anaesthesia at the University of Toronto and has a special interest in hospice care, currently serving as the Vice Chair of Community Care Northumberland’s Board of Directors. She lives in Port Hope with her husband and new puppy, and has three daughters and four grandchildren.

Dr. Al-Ali has been a surgeon on the NHH Surgical Services team since 2012. A fellowship-trained breast surgical oncologist with oncoplastic training from the University of Toronto and the Breast institute in Paris, France, Dr. Al-Ali also has extensive training in colon cancer and melanoma surgeries. He is an Assistant Professor and regular lecturer at Queen's University and was first drawn to medicine due to a fascination with anatomy, the endless pathologies, and the opportunity to make a huge difference in people's lives in a meaningful way. Dr. Al-Ali is a father of two and loves architecture, photography and design.

Both doctors will bring their varied and extensive experience to this PACE Talk to share how they have witnessed the physician-patient relationship and decision-making process for care change throughout their careers - a timely topic, as patient access to health information and patient portals are becoming more prevalent in society.

They will address how patients can best participate in their own care, the importance of establishing a trusting physician-patient relationship, and when a shared decision-making process is most appropriate. Panelists will also address questions from the audience, which can be pre-submitted by emailing mbhargava@imcare.ca prior to Oct. 19.

The timing is interesting as well, as this talk follows on the heels of recent updates to the Patient, Family, and Caregiver Declaration of Values for Ontario, a document drafted by the Minister’s Patient and Family Advisory Council in consultation with Ontarians that aims to articulate patient, family and caregiver expectations of Ontario’s health care system. The Declaration is intended to serve as a compass for the individuals and organizations who are involved in health care, and reflects a summary of the principles and values that patients, families and caregivers say are important to them.

Northumberland PACE Talks began in 2018 as free public-education sessions based on the concerns most often expressed to Dr. Mukesh Bhargava, NHH Chief of Staff, by his patients. PACE stands for Personalized Assessment and Change Education.

These free public-education sessions cover a broad range of health and wellness topics and have consistently drawn large groups of community members with a range of questions and perspectives.

The monthly meetings originally alternated between Cobourg and Port Hope. Like many other events, this series adapted to a new virtual format as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Each one-hour PACE event consists of a 30-minute talk, a 20-minute question-and-answer period with the guest speaker(s) and a short moderator summary.

Bring your questions, your suggestions, and your experience and join in what is expected to be another informative discussion.

Space is limited to the first 300 registered attendees, so pre-registration is required. You can sign up at www.pacetalks.com, where you will also find video and highlights from many previous talks. And for those unable to attend, efforts will be made – technology permitting – to share a recording of this conversation following the event.