Expert advice to
transform dementia care.

There are 334,500 Ontarians living with dementia today—a number that will triple within 30 years.  The actual reach of dementia in Ontario is far greater: one-in-three of us has a close family member, and over 60% know someone living with dementia.  Dementia is a $30 billion disease in Ontario alone, and disjointed, under-resourced dementia care is responsible for much of the strain on our health and long-term care systems today.

The Ontario Dementia Care Alliance believes we can, and must do better: for care partners, people living with dementia, and health care workers.  Our membership represents the full spectrum of dementia care, and by combining decades of experience we hope to present immediate steps the Government of Ontario could take to help improve our dementia care system.

You can learn more about our recommendations by clicking the Resources tab.  Public and media enquiries can be directed to policy@alzon.ca.

The mission of the ODCA is to create a more dementia-friendly Ontario through expert advice that will educate, advocate, and improve access to quality and timely dementia care across the province.

Vision

An Ontario where dementia care is complete care. It is person-centred throughout all aspects of a person’s dementia journey, including prevention mechanisms, timely diagnosis, early care and appropriate solutions for care partners—where dignity and independence are valued and nurtured, and where quality of life is maintained until end of life. The ODCA believes in an Ontario where people living with dementia get the care they need and deserve, when and where they need it.

Purpose

To serve as an independent expert advisory body to the Government of Ontario and delivering actionable recommendations that would meaningfully improve dementia care for both care recipients and providers. To highlight the complex medical care required by people living with dementia and the need for continuum of care to retain the quality of life of people living with dementia. The ODCA will advocate for a comprehensive provincial dementia strategy, raise awareness regarding barriers to quality dementia care in Ontario, and facilitate discussions to improve care standards.

Our Members

  • Senior Scientist, Sunnybrook Research Institute; Brill Chair in Neurology, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.

  • Medical Director and Site Principal Investigator, Toronto Memory Program.

    Dr. Sharon Cohen is a Behavioural Neurologist and the Medical Director of Toronto Memory Program, a community-based multidisciplinary medical facility which she established in 1996 for the purpose of enhancing diagnosis and treatment for individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders. Her memory clinic and dementia research site are among the most active in Canada and have provided care and research opportunities to thousands of Canadians.

    Dr. Cohen has over 30 years of experience in clinical research and has been a site PI for over 180 pharmacological trials in dementia. Her particular research interest is in disease modifying treatments and she has been a major contributor to Alzheimer’s prevention trial cohorts.

    Dr. Cohen represents Canada on numerous international advisory boards and steering committees and is a consultant to a wide range of stakeholders, including government organizations and patient advocacy groups. She is a frequent lecturer and contributor to medical education activities. She is regularly featured in media events, and has a special interest in medical ethics, person-centered care, and reduction of stigma. She is known for her advocacy of individuals with neurodegenerative diseases.

    Despite past academic and hospital appointments, Dr. Cohen has always chosen to practice in the community, in keeping with her belief that dementia care and clinical research are best understood and addressed in the real-world setting.

  • Founder and CEO, The Health Depot Pharmacy.

  • MD, FRCPC: Professor, Department of Medicine (Neurology), University of Toronto; Head Division of Neurology and Medical Director Pamela and Paul Austin Centre for Neurology and Behavioural Support, Baycrest Health Sciences; Scientist, Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest

    Dr. Morris Freedman is Head of Neurology and Medical Director, Pamela and Paul Austin Centre for Neurology and Behavioural Support at Baycrest Health Sciences. He is Medical Director, Cognition and Behaviour at Baycrest, and a Professor, Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, as well as a scientist at the Rotman Research Institute of Baycrest Centre. He is carrying out research aimed at understanding mechanisms underlying cognitive impairment due to degenerative dementias. His research also includes the development of cognitive assessment procedures in dementia, such as the Toronto Cognitive Assessment and the Object Alternation Test, as well as program development for care of individuals with dementia. He is actively involved in research using artificial intelligence with a vision to promote precision diagnosis and management related to dementia and related disorders. In addition, he has special expertise in distance learning at a global level using videoconferencing, an area in which he has taken a major leadership role internationally.

    Dr. Freedman has been instrumental in developing Baycrest’s Virtual Behavioural Medicine Program (VBM) which is a game changer in the care of individuals with advanced dementia and severe neuropsychiatric symptoms such as agitation and aggression. VBM has been highly successful in reducing emergency department visits and acute care hospital admissions in these individuals with severe neuropsychiatric symptoms, and is a scalable model of virtual care that can be adopted worldwide.

  •  President and CEO, Baycrest Hospital 

  • Founder, Kawartha Centre—Redefining Healthy Aging; Adjunct Professor, Trent University, Trent Centre for Aging and Society.

    Dr. K. Jennifer Ingram MD FRCPC D.Sc.(hon), is a specialist in Internal Medicine and Geriatric Medicine. The overarching theme of her clinical and academic career has been to develop pivotal changes in the delivery of health care to Seniors locally through individual and interagency collaboration. As founder of the Kawartha Centre ~ Redefining Healthy Aging, Dr Ingram provided persons with complex health needs and dementia access to world class research options in a community setting. Dr Ingram is recognized for her role in founding the Seniors Care Network and the 12 fully funded NP led GAIN Geriatric Teams across central east Ontario serving rural Ontario seniors. She has been a consultant to the Provincial Geriatrics Leadership Ontario, and to the Trent Centre for Aging and Society. Dr Ingram was named the Ontario Co-Lead of the CIHR funded Team 19 ROSA Study (Research on the Organization of Services for Alzheimer dementia). Her groundbreaking community focused work has been recognized by the OMA (Glenn Sawyer Award 2016), the Consortium of Canadian Centres for Clinical Cognitive Research or C5R (Irma Parhad Award 2016) and Trent University (Community Leaders Award 2007). Currently Co-Chairing the Planning Leadership Table of the Primary Care Embedded Memory Services (PC-EMS) with her Primary Care Colleague Dr David Carr, they are piloting an intensive demonstration project to develop the tools and staffing needed to support all primary care physicians to appropriately diagnose dementia. In 2023, Dr. Ingram was recognized with an Honourary Doctor of Science by Trent University in recognition of her transformative work in developing, implementing, and documenting health care change to serve seniors especially those with dementia.

  • Co-Founder and Executive Director, Provincial Geriatrics Leadership Ontario; Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ontario Tech University

  • Founder, MINT Memory Clinics; Schlegel Chair in Primary Care for Elders, Research Institute for Aging.

  • CEO, AdvantAge Ontario.

    Lisa Levin is the CEO of AdvantAge Ontario – an association of Ontario’s non-profit organizations serving seniors. Before joining AdvantAge, Lisa was the Director of Nursing and Health Policy with the Registered Nurses ‘Association of Ontario (RNAO). From 2011 to 2016, Lisa was the Chair of the Ontario Caregiver Coalition (OCC) that advocates for family caregivers across the province. In 2012, Lisa received a Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee medal for her work leading the OCC. From 2005 to 2015, Lisa was a senior executive with Circle of Care – a home and community care agency. Before that, Lisa was a policy advisor for 16 years in different ministries of the Ontario government including: Housing; Community and Social Services; Health; and Children’s Services. Lisa has her Bachelor of Arts in Urban Systems/Geography from McGill University, and her Master of Science in Urban Planning from the University of Toronto

    AdvantAge Ontario has been the trusted voice for senior care for 100 years. We represent community-based, not-for-profit organizations dedicated to supporting the best possible aging experience. We are the only provincial association representing the full spectrum of the seniors’ care continuum. Our nearly 400 members are located across the province and include not-for-profit, charitable, and municipal long-term care (LTC) homes, seniors’ housing, supportive housing and community service agencies.

  • Laura Tamblyn Watts is the CEO of CanAge, Canada’s National Seniors’ Advocacy Organization. She is an advocate, author, academic, lawyer and media commentator. Laura is the author of the Dementia Report in Canada: A Cross Country Report 2022 and numerous other reports, studies and articles on dementia policy.

    She has previously served as National Director of the Canadian Centre for Elder Law and Chief Public Policy Officer at CARP. She is an Assistant Professor (status) at the Factor Inwentash Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto. Laura is the recipient of a number of awards for her work, including a Community Leadership in Justice Fellowship by the Law Foundation of Ontario. She is affiliated faculty at a number of global universities and was called to the BC Bar in 1999.

    Laura is a Board Director of the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) and previously of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC). She also sits on the Board of Directors of Elder Abuse Prevention Ontario, PACE Independent Living and the Bereavement Authority of Ontario (BAO). She serves on a number of consumer-focused committees including as Chair of the Consumer Advisory Panel of the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA), a member of the Retirement Homes Regulatory Authority (RHRA) Consumer Advisory Panel.

    She was part of the Canadian Standards Association’s team who developed new National Standards for Long Term Care and is now working with the CSA on developing National Standards for Home and Community Care.

    Her warm and humorous new book: Let’s Talk About Aging Parents is out in April 2024 (The Experiment distributed by W.W. Norton).

  • Care partner.

  • Marion and Gerald Soloway Chair in Brain Injury and Concussion Research; Associate Professor, Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of Toronto.

The ODCA is administratively supported by the Alzheimer Society of Ontario.  Funding support is provided by Eisai Canada, Eli Lilly Canada, Novo Nordisk Canada, and Roche Canada. Neither the Alzheimer Society nor funders have editorial control over ODCA positions, and statements made by the Society are not necessarily reflective of the views of ODCA members.

Contact the ODCA by emailing policy@alzon.ca.