An Overview of Social Prescribing for Older Adults in British Columbia

When: Wednesday, May 15 from 12 – 1 pm
Where: Zoom (see link here)

Talk Abstract

Social prescribing is a model of health and social care that aims to link people with unmet social needs to resources within the community. The initial social prescribing initiatives in British Columbia (BC) began in 2020 focused on older adults and programs are located throughout the province. This presentation will describe social prescribing and the evidence related to older adults, as well as present an overview of the social prescribing programs for older adults in BC.

Speaker Bios

Margaret Lin is a registered nurse, a regional project leader at Fraser Health, and a PhD student in nursing at UBC. At Fraser Health, Margaret leads region-wide healthy aging initiatives, including social prescribing integration, the frailty pathway, and the Pacific Regional Centre for Healthy Aging. In each initiative, Margaret collaborates closely with partners in different sectors, from health authority leadership teams and healthcare providers to community care providers and researchers. Her work focuses on promoting partnerships, integration, and strategies that realize one key message: Aging does not equal frailty.

Prab Sandhu is a healthcare system and community specialist focused on integrating social prescribing within British Columbia’s health landscape. Prab has facilitated important discussions and meetings at the Health Authority level, and has contributed to the creation of a social prescribing implementation guide and orientation training for community connectors, aiming to improve community health through collaborative approaches.

Portrait of Maureen

Maureen Ashe is a professor in Family Practice at UBC and a physiotherapist. Maureen’s research program is focused on social prescribing and older adults.