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News and Events

2025

April/May

• Want to experience Be EPIC-VR in action?

  Visit us at the AI Showcase during the AdvantAge Ontario – Advancing Senior Care Convention in Toronto!

  📍 Sheraton Centre Toronto (123 Queen Street West, Toronto)
  🗓️ April 30 | 5–7 PM
  🗓️ May 1 | 10 AM–2 PM

  Stop by our table 2 (VIDE Foyer) to explore how immersive VR can support dementia care training.

2024

November

• Our Director, Dr. Marie Savundranayagam and Dr. Anna Garnett (Nursing) are the research leads on the McCormick Mobile Study.
  • McCormick Mobile delivers dementia education at home

July: Newsletter      March: Toronto Star Article 

• Our Director, Dr. Marie Savundranayagam teaches health-care workers to look at the environment surrounding a person with dementia for clues about what they like and don’t like. Click the link to read the full Toronto Star article
  • Toronto Star Article: Does someone you love have dementia? Here are some ways you can still connect with them

January

• Be EPIC: Western health studies prof develops ground-breaking virtual reality training

2022

• Featured on the "Women on the Rise" series by Tamil Women Rising, a nonprofit organization that empowers Tamil women and their allies to seek success and advance their careers. (March 3, 2022)
  • LinkedIn Post for "Women on the Rise"
• Be EPIC: New virtual-reality training program gets $1M EPIC boost: Grant will expand Western-developed PSW training for dementia care (May 2022)
• Interviewed by Madelaine Currelly on her radio show, Aging – A New Reality, on Northumberland 89.7 FM
  • Topic: Health Care for Older Adults. Included discussions on Be EPIC training, communication, hearing, and aging
    • Part 1 (May 2022)
    • Part 2 (June 2022)
  • Topic: Importance of Social Well-being
    • Part 1 on Social Connections (July 2022)
    • Part 2 on the Importance of Social Well-being (July 2022)
• PSW Perspectives on Quality of Care - Dementia Connections Magazine (October 2022)

2020

• Be EPIC: Improving front-line care for growing number of Canadians living with dementia (February 2020)
• Be EPIC: Person-Centered Communication, Dementia Connections Magazine (July 2020)
• Be EPIC: Working conditions impacting person-centered care & COVID-19 impacts update (December 2020)

2019

• Be EPIC empowers caregivers on the front line

2018

• What sparked a career in gerontology? Read a faculty profile of Dr. Savundranayagam, published by Western Undergraduate Research Journal.

2017

• Caregiver support, training at heart of initiative

2013

• What adults can expect when going back to school - CTV News