Congratulations to our 2022 Outstanding Volunteer Award recipient
John Sheard, recipient of the 2022 Outstanding Volunteer Award
Congratulations to John Sheard, who was presented with the 2022 Outstanding Volunteer Award at the Semi-Annual General Meeting on January 18.
You would be hard-pressed to find a stronger voice for seniors.
John, a long-time clinic member, joined the Seniors Advisory Council in 2015 already a fierce advocate for better supports for seniors’ mental health and much-needed improvements to long-term care.
He quickly became engaged in many advisory council activities including advocating, fundraising, supporting clinic seniors’ programs and promoting accessibility.
He has spoken at a past semi-annual meeting about the need for improved mental health services and has written numerous articles for Focus over the past few years.
As a member of the advisory council executive, John helped develop and speak to numerous resolutions at membership meetings.
His list of advocacy efforts is long. He has advocated for the addition of a psychiatrist to the clinic’s mental health care team; improved access to mental health services in long-term care; the creation of a provincial Seniors Advocate; and provincial funding for seniors to receive the Shingrix shingles vaccine.
John, alongside other advisory council executive members, played an integral role in the development of an inter-generational student research program in early 2020. A retired biology professor, he generously gives his time to mentor students and works with them on research projects important to older adults, the most recent focused on the needs of clinic members around ‘Aging in Place’.
In addition to being a caregiver to his wife, Anne, who is in long-term care, John is also a patient representative with both the Saskatchewan Long-term Care Network and the Saskatchewan Health Authority Long-term Care Expert Panel.
John, on behalf of the board and clinic members, we want to extend our thanks. You have brought so much to the work of the Seniors Advisory Council. Older adults, our co-operative and the province are better because of your efforts.
