Volume 9, Number 1, November 1997

Provincial Health Ethics Network News

User Fund Available for Educational Projects

The Provincial Health Ethics Network has established a User Fund to provide grants of up to $500 to Network members wishing to undertake educational projects to enhance their awareness of health ethics issues. The fund is designed to:

  • increase Bioethics resources within the Province to enhance health ethics discussion and decision-making, and
  • assist the Network in its educational efforts by enhancing Bioethics expertise in the Province to play a role in the future education of other healthcare providers and Albertans.

The fund is intended to support only those projects that would not otherwise be undertaken without additional financial assistance from the Network. Acceptable uses of funds include attendance at healthcare ethics conferences including workshops sponsored by the Provincial Health Ethics Network, or initiation of a local project that will serve to enhance reflection and decision-making around ethical issues in health care. The Network expects that individual applicants will seek funding from their own agencies and will contribute toward the total cost themselves. Funds cannot be used to support thesis work or graduate study. Award recipients will be expected to share their experiences and knowledge with others in their ethics committees, agencies or communities, and may be requested to provide a written submission for publication in the Network newsletter. Grants are open to all individual and institutional PHEN members in Alberta. Institutional memberships are available for $25 and individual memberships for $10 annually.

Applications for awards under the grant will be reviewed three times per calendar year. The next application deadline is NOVEMBER 15, 1997. For application forms, contact the Network's Edmonton Office at 1-800-472-4066.

PHEN Staff Changes

We are pleased to announce that Gail Poole, LLB, has joined the staff of the Provincial Health Ethics Network as the Northern Alberta Coordinator, based in our Edmonton office. Gail has practiced both law and speech pathology in Victoria, B.C. Most recently, she has studied medical ethics at the Biomedical Ethics Unit at McGill University and at the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics at the University of Chicago.

Unfortunately, PHEN is losing Laurie Hardingham, as she is returning to the University of Calgary full-time to complete her doctoral studies. Al-Noor Nathoo moved to the Calgary office in mid-September to assume the position of Southern Alberta Coordinator.

Resources Available

We have been privileged to have the assistance of several research assistants - Rachel Lynch, Jai Shah, and Bashir Jiwani - for the last several months, in part, to assist with the production of new teaching modules. Brochures containing a list and description of all modules with the new pricing structure will be available for distribution in the near future.