Patient Advisor, Vancouver Island Eating Disorder Client & Family Advisory Committee

Volunteer Opportunity
Do you have experience accessing care for treatment of an eating disorder on Vancouver Island? Would you be interested in lending your voice to enhance the development and provision of eating disorder services provided by Island Health and the Ministry of Children and Family Development? Your voice is needed!

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Lead Organization/Department
Island Health, Child Youth Mental Health and Substance Use, and Ministry of Children and Family Development

Aim
The Vancouver Island Eating Disorder Client and Family Advisory Committee provides a venue for the voices of clients and families with lived experience of eating disorders to be heard. It provides the opportunity for staff to better understand and learn from patient experiences, in the context of improving the eating disorder services provided by the Ministry of Child and Family Development and Island Health on Vancouver Island.

The role of the Patient Advisor will include contributing to positive, open discussion with fellow Advisory Committee members, reflecting on insights from personal experience with a focus on how these may inform positive change for clients and families in the future.

Level of Engagement
This opportunity is at the level of involve on the spectrum of engagement. The promise to you is that the health care partner will involve patients in planning and design phases to ensure ideas or concerns are considered and reflected in alternatives and recommendations.

Eligibility
• Open to patient partners from Vancouver Island who:
– Have lived experience with an eating disorder and accessed health care services on Vancouver Island.
– Are comfortable sharing their personal health care stories and experiences in a group setting.
– Are comfortable with using Zoom for virtual meetings.
– Are at a point of personal recovery where they are distanced enough from the disorder that the engagement would not cause pain, hardship or trigger a relapse.
– Please note a potential risk is discomfort hearing other stories from other patient partners that may have disturbing or triggering content. Please only consider participating if you feel you are in a place of sufficient stability to provide your lived experience and hear the experiences from others.

• Please note:
– This opportunity, as with all Island Health patient engagement opportunities, is not open to Island Health staff members or patient partners who are currently employed by Island Health. If you have questions regarding this, please email patient.experience@islandhealth.ca
– The placement process for this opportunity will include an informal interview between the volunteer and the health care partner.
– Applicants must have previously attended a PVN orientation session and completed the Patient Partner Commitments form. If you have not attended an orientation session but you are interested in this opportunity, please contact Charmaine Niebergall directly to see if accommodations may be possible.
– As required by the October 14, 2021 Public Health Order released by the Provincial Health Officer, proof of vaccination is required to access any in-person meetings at an Island Health site. Proof of vaccination can be provided by way of a Vaccination Passport or Vaccination card, along with government issued photo ID. For patient partnership activities that are virtual only (via Zoom, video conference, phone, etc.), proof of vaccination is not required.

Logistics
• Number of vacancies: 4
• Date/Time: Advisory Committee Meetings occur quarterly, on the second Tuesday every three months from 3:00-4:30pm or as determined by members.
– To ensure a strong team dynamic, members should strive to attend as many meetings as possible.
– Members may meet outside of scheduled meetings for ad hoc meetings.
– A rotation of 1-2 members may be invited to join the 1 hour Eating Disorder Steering Committee meeting via Zoom on a quarterly basis
– The next Eating Disorder Client & Family Advisory Committee meeting is scheduled for March 8, 2022
• Location: Videoconference using Zoom
• Commitment: Two year term with the option of renewal for one additional year upon mutual agreement between the patient partner, Island Health, and the Ministry of Children and family Development

Reimbursement
No out-of-pocket expenses are anticipated for this engagement opportunity. However, if you meet the eligibility criteria but have concerns about your ability to participate, please contact Charmaine Niebergall cniebergall@bcpsqc.ca to see if support options are available. We are always seeking to better understand and reduce barriers to participation.

Background
The Vancouver Island Eating Disorder Client & Family Advisory Committee came about as part of a Joint Regional Plan for eating disorder services on Vancouver Island between Island Health and the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD). It was developed in an effort to help address the gaps in the under-serviced areas of the island to respond to service fragmentations.

The committee includes family and client stakeholders. The committee will have Island Health/MCFD clinical and leadership members, and a maximum of 10 patient and family members with a geographical mix across Vancouver Island.

Health Care Partner Contact Information

Charmaine Niebergall
Engagement Leader, Patient & Public Engagement | Vancouver Island
778.700.2064
cniebergall@bcpsqc.ca