We are Niagara Health is a series of stories that celebrates the incredible people working and volunteering in our organization and how they make a difference in the lives of patients and coworkers every day.
Registered Nurse Christine Lam-Au with her Clinical Excellence Award that she received in late November for her contributions to care for older adults at Niagara Health.
Christine Lam-Au has spent the past 25 years dedicated to delivering exceptional care to Niagara’s older adults.
In the process, the registered nurse has helped transform the Geriatric Assessment Program (GAP) from a fledgling enterprise into a flagship initiative that provides practice-leading, critical support to patients and their caregivers.
Now, more than just Lam-Au’s coworkers at Niagara Health know about the impact she’s had. In late November, she received a regional Clinical Excellence Award for her dedication to advancing geriatric care.
The award is presented annually by the Division of Geriatric Medicine at McMaster University, the Regional Geriatric Program, central region, and the GERAS Centre for Aging Research to an individual who demonstrates expertise, innovation, quality care, collaboration and professional development.
Lam-Au checks all those boxes, having led an inpatient consultation service, run nursing clinics and spearheaded an outreach program that included home visits. She’s also overseen a case-managed outpatient program, conducting intakes, triaging referrals and providing outstanding care in follow-up clinics.
“Chris is also an accomplished leader,” her nomination reads. “For decades, she formed part of a three-fold leadership group, along with her now-retired colleagues, who built the GAP from the ground up. Her outstanding ability to anticipate challenges, collect and synthesize data, build collaborative relationships with hospital administration and external organizations, and her tireless, humble work ethic has made the GAP what it is today.”
“One of the major things our program excels at is helping connect patients to resources in the community, which helps them stay in the community."
As someone who prefers to share – or avoid – the spotlight, Lam-Au gets overcome about being recognized so publicly.
“I was totally in awe when I got the email. I was stunned I was nominated to begin with,” she says. “To actually get the award -- I’m not sure how that happened. I think about it now and I still get emotional.”
She’s quick to credit her GAP team, which has grown significantly in her time here, and highlight colleagues across Niagara Health who are moving the Care for Older Persons Strategy forward and setting new standards of care.
A village approach to caring for older adults
Take the trio of nurse practitioners who make up the Geriatric Emergency Management (GEM) team. They support patients 65 and older coming into the Emergency Department (ED), helping them navigate care needs and avoid unnecessary admission in collaboration with the ED team. They also liaise with the inpatient GAP team so patients don’t stay in hospital longer than necessary when admission is required.
There’s also the Geriatric Rapid Assessment Clinic (GeriRAC), which prevents unnecessary hospital admissions or repeated ED visits by referring older adults to the GAP’s outpatient services.
These programs are also hubs for connections to other key partners, such as the Behavioural Supports Ontario team, a clinical nurse specialist, orthogeriatrics nurse practitioner and a dedicated geriatrics pharmacist, all of whom support older adults in hospital and ensure a safe, seamless transition back into the community.
“Our program is not standalone,” Lam-Au says. “One of the major things our program excels at is helping connect patients to resources in the community, which helps them stay in the community.
“It’s not just giving patients a diagnosis,” she adds. “It’s helping them along their journey. If they have dementia, for example, that’s a tough journey to navigate. We’re a team. No one can do this on their own.”
The collaboration and partnerships that exist also speak to the complexity of caring for older adults, which ranks as Lam-Au’s favourite part of her job. It requires a village approach with nurses, physicians and allied health team members, she explains.
The patients the GAP team see often have caregivers, too, which adds an emotional layer to the work Lam-Au and her colleagues perform.
“Even if the caregiver might have an idea of what’s wrong, when you get a working diagnosis from a physician, hearing the words can be quite jarring and shocking. There’s a grieving process. We help them understand what it means and navigate resources in the community. One of the biggest roles we have is supporting the caregiver so they can care for the patient,” she says.
Despite the recognition for her unyielding contributions to older adult care, Lam-Au isn’t resting on any laurels. She relishes the privilege of hearing patients’ life stories, ushering them along their journeys, and continually evolving as a healthcare provider.
“Geriatrics fascinates me,” she says. “This field changes so fast. There’s so much to learn and I feel like I’m still learning on a daily basis.”
