Family pets are not often invited to Northumberland PACE talks, but that's not the case for the Feb. 16 session – Pets And Wellness.
These monthly wellness sessions do cover a wide range of topics with some of the leading experts. For Pets and Wellness, Dr. Janet Hoy-Gerlach, an expert on the health benefits of the human-animal bond, will be the speaker at the 5:30 p.m. Zoom event.
“Owning a pet is not a requirement to attend, but those with pets are welcome to have them join alongside them on this virtual call,” the announcement said.
A professor at the University of Toledo, Dr. Hoy-Gerlach has more than 20 years of experience in community mental health service delivery. She has focused her research on understanding the bonds between people and animals, and is an advocate for recognizing and incorporating these bonds within social work, health and wellness practices.
Dr. Hoy-Gerlach's informative talk will explore how animals and pets can be partners in one’s health and well-being, and will touch on how an awareness of the relationship people have with animals can be leveraged by both physical and mental healthcare providers. She will share tips for being more intentional at incorporating pets into one’s wellness journey, and highlight ways to maximize benefits for both humans and animals.
Northumberland PACE talks have been hosted since 2018 as free public-education sessions on a broad range of health and wellness topics, consistently drawing large groups of community members with a range of questions and perspectives.
PACE (which stands for Personalized Assessment and Change Education) is a TED Talks-inspired speakers’ series that began when Northumberland Hills Hospital Chief of Staff Dr. Mukesh Bhargava had the idea of organizing public sessions on the health questions his patients were asking most frequently.
Today, NHH, the Northumberland Family Health Team, the Community Health Centres of Northumberland, internal medicine specialists IMCare, the NHH Foundation, as well as local patients and caregivers are all represented on the PACE planning table.
Alternating sessions between Cobourg and Port Hope, the series – like so many other events – had to adapt to a new virtual format as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In both versions, each hour-long PACE event consists of a 30-minute talk, a 20-minute question-and-answer period with the guest speaker and a short moderator summary.
Bring your questions, your suggestions and your experience to the Feb. 16 event, and join in what is expected to be another informative discussion.
Pre-registration is required for the human participants, and space is limited to the first 300 to sign up. Participants are asked to log into the Zoom link five minutes prior to the start.
Register for Pets and Wellness at www.pacetalks.com, where you will also find video and highlights from many of the previous seasons’ talks. For those unable to attend, efforts will be made to share a recording of this conversation following the event, technology permitting.
