Announcing the 2003 CAOT Award Recipients
CAOT awards celebrate the contributions of volunteers to our Association. Volunteers fulfil many important roles. They are members of the Board of Directors, they chair and sit as members of
committees, represent the Association on national coalitions and task forces. As well, our
volunteers contribute to the development of CAOT products and services such as
our journal, practice magazine and web site.
Fellowship Awards
This award has been established to recognize and honour the outstanding contributions and exceptional service of occupational therapists. Fellows of CAOT are eligible to use the credential FCAOT.
Judith Friedland received a Fellowship as part of her award as the 2003 Muriel Driver Memorial Lecturer.
Elizabeth Taylor is an exemplary clinician, a respected teacher and administrator and an unflagging volunteer within the profession of occupational therapy. In addition, Liz has significantly contributed to the rehabilitation of persons with chronic and persistent mental illness and is dedicated to improving the well-being of her community.
Awards of Merit
These are given to acknowledge significant contributions to the profession of occupational therapy.
COTF for the instrumental role of the Foundation in developing the capacity for occupational therapy research in Canada. Many occupational therapists have become authors and researchers in occupational therapy because of the publication, scholarship and research funding available through COTF. It is fitting that we recognize and celebrate COTF’s contribution on the occasion of the Foundation’s 20th anniversary.
Mary Egan for her extensive volunteer contributions to CAOT in a number of capacities, including primary investigator of the research project conducted in partnership with CAOT on Enhancing Research Use through On-line Action Research that concluded in March 2003. Mary also provided volunteer assistance to edit the Enabling Occupation 2002 Preface and is a current member of the CJOT Review Board and a column editor for the Occupational Therapy Now practice magazine.
Heather Gillespie for her significant and long-term volunteerism in CAOT. Heather chaired two CAOT task forces that examined issues relating to the use of support personnel in occupational therapy and as well served as a Board and Executive member for CAOT.
Elaine Kuretzky for her contributions to the Fieldwork Education Site Approval Program. As Chair of the CAOT Fieldwork Council, Elaine worked extensively with CAOT staff and volunteers to implement the site approval process as well as provide recommendations to the CAOT Board of Directors regarding the operation of the service.
Moira Toomey for her extensive volunteer assistance to CAOT. In the role of Chair of the CAOT Membership Committee, Moira led a review of membership bylaw articles and recommended policy to the CAOT Board of Directors relating to CAOT membership eligibility and benefits. Moira also chaired a CAOT task force that examined the role of support personnel in occupational therapy and served as a representative of CAOT to national coalitions and task forces.
Muriel Driver Memorial Lectureship Award
Dr. Catherine Backman is not only an accomplished clinician, a respected teacher, administrator and researcher within the profession of occupational therapy, she has also significantly contributed to the rehabilitation for persons with arthritis and is a valued citizen in our community.
Catherine’s expertise in the field of assessment, particularly for persons with arthritis, has yielded numerous grants and publications. Her early research efforts lead to the development of a valid and reliable assessment tool entitled the Arthritis Hand Function Test. More recent research provides considerable insights into paid and unpaid work of adults with rheumatoid arthritis. She has worked clinically with persons with arthritis for several years and is highly regarded and well linked to her local, national and international community in arthritis care and research. Catherine completed her doctoral degree with a particular focus on persons with arthritis and received the Professor Anne Crichton Award for best thesis proposal in the Department of Health Care & Epidemiology at University of British Columbia (UBC). She has chaired the scientific program committee and is currently serving on the Executive Committee as Chair, Committee on Education, for the Association of Rheumatology Health Professions, an international, interdisciplinary organization.
Catherine’s commitment to the profession has been demonstrated in numerous ways. During her 22 years as an occupational therapist, Catherine has volunteered with the Nova Scotia Society of Occupational Therapists as Conference convenor for OT Atlantic, held two executive positions with the British Columbia Society of Occupational Therapists’ (BCSOT) Vancouver Branch, served on four CAOT committees, holding two executive positions on their Board, and is an active member of the Academic Credentialing Council. She has volunteered on the publication grants committee for COTF and is a member of the discipline committee of the College of Occupational Therapists of British Columbia. She has and continues to review abstracts and manuscripts for the annual CAOT conference and Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, respectively. Her volunteer activities for the profession go beyond giving of her time, as she also supports COTF and encourages others to participate in these professional endeavours. Catherine received the Karen Goldenberg Award for Volunteerism from COTF in 1992, the Outstanding Occupational Therapist Award from BCSOT in 1994, and the Outstanding Young Alumnus Award from UBC in 1995.
Dedication to professional education and leadership is exemplified by Catherine’s long list of contributions to the occupational therapy undergraduate curriculum at UBC. In Catherine’s first five years on faculty at UBC she instructed eight courses, most of which required development of new content or significant updating to the existing curriculum. Without exception the teaching evaluations completed by years of students in her classes has demonstrated her exemplary love of teaching and giving to the next generation of occupational therapists. During this period she served three years as the fieldwork coordinator and developed the innovative Each One Teach One Program, where clinicians throughout the province were awarded for outstanding service to the fieldwork education process. She established the Fieldwork Management Committee and standards for fieldwork site approval in British Columbia that eventually served as a template for a national approval system. In addition to students, Catherine kindly offers assistance to new faculty in the preparation of course material and in guiding them through adult learning principles. She has been a visiting lecturer at Dalhousie University and a visiting assistant professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch. Currently Catherine is leading the occupational therapy faculty at UBC in the development and transition from undergraduate to graduate entry-level curriculum scheduled to commence in the Fall of 2004. Included in this mammoth task is not only creativity and vision for the future, but also surfacing is her value for student and clinician input into this curriculum. She has organized numerous sessions, questionnaires and feedback methods to regularly access opinions. Catherine’s outstanding teaching record and contribution to the educational mission of the UBC Division of Occupational Therapy and the community was recognized in 2002 when she was awarded the highly sought-after Killam University Teaching Prize in the UBC Faculty of Medicine.
Catherine is a prolific writer and speaker in the dissemination of information and knowledge to health professionals. She has over 45 publications and has presented over 60 papers at professional meetings or courses. Her area of expertise extends to research methodology of single subject research design, questionnaire/survey research, and the personal projects approach as well as assessment of occupational performance. She readily shares her information in a clear, organized, and respectful manner both with her students and colleagues. She has mentored several clinicians through their first research projects and publications. To assist in knowledge generation and dissemination, Catherine has successfully obtained grant funding in excess of $600,000 to support both discipline-specific and inter-disciplinary research.
Though Catherine’s professional commitments have been extensive and time consuming she has also found time to be involved in her community. Catherine volunteered as a mentor for high school girls looking at career options through the YWCA mentorship program. She was a “big sister” for over a decade with the Big Sisters of BC Lower Mainland, served on their Board of Directors and participated as a member of the Board for the assistive devices research and development program for the BC Ministry of Employment and Investment.
Given Catherine’s sustained and seminal scholarship, substantive contribution to research, commitment to the education of future health professionals, visionary leadership and selfless volunteerism, she is a most worthy recipient of this prestigious lectureship.
Adapted from her nomination letter submitted by Sue Forwell
Life Members
Life membership is given to persons who have been individual members of CAOT for not less than 20 years, have practised occupational therapy for at least 20 years and have demonstrated an outstanding contribution to the Association or to the profession of occupational therapy.
Kate Coffman
Kate began her career as an occupational therapist in New Brunswick in 1961 after graduating from the University of Toronto with a combined occupational therapist/physiotherapist degree. She later went on to receive a Bachelor of Occupational Therapy from the University of Manitoba in 1968.
Her career took her down a path familiar to any occupational therapist who has worked in Atlantic Canada for 38 years – clinician, manager, Saint John CAOT Conference organizer in the mid 1980s, clinical coordinator, Evalyn Fleiger Award recipient, New Brunswick Association of Occupational Therapists life member and finally, retiree. She continues to spread the good word about occupational therapy and other concepts close to her heart by doing seminars and talks about the importance of practising for ourselves what we preach to our clients every day.
Micheline Marazzani
Micheline has been a member of CAOT since 1963. She was an active member of several CAOT committees including the Editorial Board and CJOT Review Board. She received CAOT Awards of Merit for her work in translating the National Certification Examination and for her contributions to the client-centred guidelines for occupational therapy. She also acted as a reviewer for the CAOT Academic Accreditation Program and provided assistance for the Academic Accreditation Indicators Project.
Certificates of Appreciation
Huguette Picard
Past President of CAOT, Executive Committee member and Board Director for Quebec
Christel Seeberger and Dawn Hunter
Conference 2002 Host Committee Co-convenors
Diane Watson
Conference Scientific Program Committee Chair, Conference 2001 and 2002
Lorna Reimer
Chair, Nominations Committee
Fiona McIntyre, Chair, Gayle Restall and Theresa Sullivan
Awards Committee
Christine Riggs
Certification Examination Committee
Anne McKerral
Fiscal Advisory Committee
Paulette Guitard and Kari Rogstad
Membership Committee
Loree Primeau
CJOT Review Board
Dianna Fong Lee
OT Now Column Editor
Claire Jehanne Dubouloz and Terry Krupa
Academic Credentialing Council Indicators Project
Liz Townsend
Preface to Enabling Occupation
2002 Active Living Professional Issue Forum
Panellists/facilitators: Tina Pranger, Flora Dell, Sandra Hobson, Diana Dampier and Jack Brownell
2002 Universal Design Professional Issue Forum
Panellists/facilitators: Susan Doble, Laurie Ringaert, Tom Levesque, Brent Cliff and Jim Zamprelli
2002 Marketing Occupational Therapy Professional Issue Forum
Linda Hirsekorn
Fieldwork Education Site Approval Program Review Board
Lorna Aitkens, Markirit Armutlu, Darlene Arsenault, Mary Lou Boudreau, Heather Boyes, Carl Brouillette, Stephanie Brundl, Marie Claude Caron, Sandra Connolly, Heather Cutcliffe, Michele Derdall, Hillary Flett, Michele Gibb, Sangeeta Gupta, Vivien Hollis, Krista Hopkins, Jennifer Jumoorty, Sharron Leeder, Brigitte Lefebvre, Adele Martin, Catherine Nicol, Pauline Perron, Karen Pontello, Pauline Richard, Madeleine Shaw, Gail Simpson, Elizabeth Taylor, Margaret Tompson and Lucie Tremblay
Support Personnel Task Force members
Heather Gillespie, Chair, Catherine Erochko, Lucy Ann Miller, Micheline Saint-Jean and Elizabeth Taylor
Support Personnel Working Group members
Cheryl Black, Dean Dickinson, Bonnie Jung, Siri Marken, Adele Martin, Nadine Pool-Hoogendoorn and Krista Wade
Support Personnel Profile Reviewers
Jennifer Allen, Shirley Morrison, Cora Rolph and Debbie Werbicki
CAOT Student Awards
Each year CAOT provides a student award to a graduating student in each Canadian university occupational therapy educational program who demonstrates consistent and exemplary knowledge of occupational therapy. Last year’s winners were:
Nicole Claire Bruce – University of British Columbia
Julie Buteau – Université Laval
Mélissa Coallier – University of Ottawa
Elise Delmar – McGill University
Stéphanie Ducharme – Université de Montréal
Lisa Hoffman – University of Toronto
Zofia Kuman – Dalhousie University
Patricia Manto – Queen’s University
Brianna McGuire – McMaster University
Sara-Jane Milne – University of Manitoba
Mary-Beth Savage – University of Western Ontario
Neila Sehn – University of Alberta
CAOT/Provincial Association Citation Awards
These awards acknowledge the contributions and accomplishments to the health and well being of Canadians of an agency, program and/or individual within each province who is not an occupational therapist. The awards are usually presented to recipients during National Occupational Therapy Week. A number of Citation Awards will be issued across Canada by the provincial association and CAOT.
Alberta
Donna and Rudy Cornet of Edmonton. Active volunteers with the Department of Occupational Therapy at the University of Alberta for the past 10 years
British Columbia
Dr. M.F. Whitfield, Director, Neonatal Follow-up Program, BC Children’s Hospital. Dr. Whitfield views occupational therapists as valuable members of the multidisciplinary health care team. He has consistently mentored, promoted and been an advocate of occupational therapists. It is for his broad and steadfast support of children, families and occupational therapists that Dr. Whitfield was nominated for this award.
New Brunswick
Pat Burgess, Manager, HomePartners, an affiliate of the Canadian Red Cross Home Support Services Program. Pat is a strong proponent of occupational therapy and the philosophy of gaining and maintaining independence while acquiring the necessary skills for the job of living.
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland Chapter of the Tetra Society of North America. This volunteer organization is committed to assisting people with disabilities to achieve an enhanced quality of life within the community. This goal is achieved through the fabrication of non-commercial assistive devices designed to enhance the user’s functional independence.
Ontario
David Lepofsky, Chair, Ontarians with Disabilities Act Committee. David is the founder of the Committee, a group of persons interested in enhancing the rights of persons with disabilities.
Saskatchewan
The first recipient is Rian Tannahill, Owner of Special Needs Equipment Installation. Rian is dedicated to the special needs population of Regina and surrounding area through his work on special needs equipment, adaptations and renovations.
The Kinsmen Foundation of Saskatchewan is the second recipient. The Kinsmen Foundation has provided assistance for mobility devices, technical and communication aids, visual aids, medical expenses for trips outside of the province, building shelters and workshops and providing equipment to hospitals and care homes.
Manitoba
The Royal Canadian Legion Ladies’ Auxiliary. Thanks to the dedicated efforts of a dynamic group of women over the past 16 years, over 50 students in the occupational therapy program in the School of Medical Rehabilitation at the University of Manitoba have been the fortunate recipients of undergraduate scholarship awards.
Canadian OT Awarded Honorary Degree in Belarus
Sandra Hobson, Associate Professor in the School of Occupational Therapy at the University of Western Ontario, has travelled to Belarus for the past five years with a group of London health professionals to lecture at the Byelorussian State Medical University (BSMU) in Minsk and to consult on the care of patients in affiliated hospitals, treatment centres and community clinics. On May 13, Sandra, along with two other participants in the exchange with BSMU, was awarded the rank of doctor honoris causa at BSMU for her work in Minsk. Sandra is the first woman to receive such a distinction at BSMU. Congratulations Sandra!
Thank you!
We would like to acknowledge the hard work of the Awards Committee, which is chaired by Debra Boudreau. Members include Nicole Boudreau, Diane Smith and Anita Unruh.
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