Read more
Pamela Grassau (BSW, MSW, PhD) is an Associate Professor at the School of Social Work at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Listening and learning for over 20 years in participatory action research with marginalized communities facing interlocking structural barriers while living with chronic and life-limiting illnesses, Pam has learned and written about how care, illness, dying, grief, and loss live within relationships, programs, services, teams, physical spaces, policies, and leadership. Bringing her community-based insights into palliative care education and research, Pam worked for 7 years with multi-professional palliative care clinicians, managers, administrators, and students to build knowledge, competencies, practices, and guidelines that have improved care for patients and families living with advanced illness. Keen to reconnect with social work and co-lead community-based participatory action research, in 2019 Pam partnered with Compassionate Ottawa and four Ottawa sites (2 community health centers and 2 faith communities) to pilot in Canada the foundational Healthy End of Life Project (HELP), developed by Dr. Andrea Grindrod and colleagues at La Trobe University in Australia. HELP: Ottawa has advanced knowledge and understanding about how individuals, families, friends, neighbors, communities, workplaces, and faith communities can work collaboratively with social and health care resources, services, and providers, to deliver community-based, equity-focused, trauma-informed, compassionate care.