Update: From the Desk of Mandy Young, Community Engagement Coordinator

Since joining our team in March as the inaugural Community Engagement Coordinator, Mandy has added much needed capacity to bring patient and community expertise into UBC Health activities. Mandy’s activities are focused on strengthening existing relationships with community organizations, developing recruitment and orientation processes, and building new relationships.

In her first 4 months, Mandy has filled 10 requests from faculty and students with 60 Health Mentors. Through community outreach she is updating our database of community organizations who wish to be involved in health professional education, adding 39 new community contacts to increase equity, diversity and inclusion of voices not currently engaged with UBC and has established a working group to co-develop orientation resources and supports for new patient engagement activities. Additionally, Mandy has completed an environmental scan of peer support and family advisory roles for the new Gateway primary care teaching clinic at UBC.

“It’s really helpful for our partnership brokering work to have this Community Engagement Coordinator role in UBC Health to whom I can refer partners and other UBC colleagues. In only 3 months, she’s become one of my go-to people,” says Kat Cureton, Advisor Strategic Partnerships, UBC Community Engagement Office.

The community engagement coordinator position is an unprecedented one-year proof-of-concept funded by generous donations from the community though the Empowering Patient Voices in Health Professional Education campaign.

If you would like more information about how to get involved, please contact Mandy Young at mandy.young@ubc.ca.