Caberry Weiyang Yu - Junior Research Fellow at the National Institute on Ageing, Ryerson University
Caberry Weiyang Yu
When Caberry Weiyang Yu decided to enter the medical field, she knew two things - she was interested in the care of older adults and wanted to make a difference. However, it wasn’t until she volunteered at St. Peter’s Hospital in Hamilton during her undergraduate years that she determined that a career in geriatrics was right for her.
“The geriatrics program at St. Peter’s Hospital was one of the only hospitals that had spaces for volunteers. Older adults are not as communicative and can have chronic conditions so not a lot of students wanted to volunteer there,” Caberry says. “I spent a lot of time chatting with the older adults and they taught me a lot of lessons about life. We had conversations about what’s important in life, how to focus on family, how to choose a career. I enjoyed a lot of my conversations with them. I learned that working with older adults is a profession where you need a lot of patience but it’s rewarding. You work with some of the most vulnerable people in society but they have so much to offer.”
After her volunteer experience, in 2019 Caberry travelled to Ottawa as a member of the Daughters of the Vote organization where she had the opportunity to speak about an issue she was passionate about. “On the senate floor I spoke about seniors care, how we can better provide person centered, high quality care in the community for older adults,” Caberry says. “I also talked about the need for a National Seniors Strategy.”
After her speech, a mentor suggested she contact Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Health Policy Research and Co-Chair of the National Institute on Ageing (NIA) and Geriatrician at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. “Dr. Sinha gave me some advice on how to become more involved in research and advocacy for older adults. Later that summer, a research position opened up at the NIA and Dr. Sinha invited me to apply. I felt like the NIA worked on things that I’m passionate about and I liked the way they integrate research in to actionable items for policy,” Caberry says. “I thought it would be a valuable experience to learn from experts on the topics I cared about.”
Since then, Caberry has been a part of major policy and advocacy projects at the NIA, as its first ever Junior Research Fellow, a volunteer program the NIA created to support emerging young leaders, practitioners, and experts in the fields of ageing and to provide them a network to expand their burgeoning skills and experience. “My Fellowship at the NIA allows me to help create and disseminate policy research on care for older adults in Canada. I’ve worked on the National Seniors Strategy, helping to lead the writing and editing process on the third edition that was recently released. On this project I conducted jurisdictional scans and assessed evidence on policy issues in order to recommend key policy areas for us to help seniors age in place in a healthy and dignified manner,” Caberry says.
In addition to her work on the National Seniors Strategy, Caberry also worked on a report with the Canadian Red Cross titled “Advancing Emergency Preparedness Response and Recovery for Older Adults” outlining strategies to improve disaster preparedness for older adults. “This report meant a lot to me because I’ve volunteered with the Red Cross for ten years and work as an emergency response personnel where I respond to a lot of calls in Ontario from people who experience personal disasters, such as fires or finding a place to live,” Caberry says. “Responding to these emergencies, I saw first-hand the need to better support emergency preparedness for almost all Canadians, but especially for older Canadians that are living at home or in congregate settings where they’re not well supported. When a disaster impacts them it takes a huge toll on health and wellbeing.”
For Caberry, the best part of working at the NIA so far has been all of the learning opportunities. “I get to learn about geriatrics from Dr. Sinha and learn about policy making from the incredible team,” Caberry says. “Everything the NIA does is laid out in recommendations that people can act on. Being part of that process, creating and getting feedback on our recommendations has been a valuable experience.”
Going forward, Caberry knows there is a lot of work to be done to provide better care for older adults but she is hopeful. “The pandemic has shed a light on the lack of standards in long term care, the government has recognized that the system needs to support older adults better. We need to redesign the system and provide care in a setting older adults will want to age in.”
Once Caberry graduates medical school, she wants to work with older adults in a community setting where she can learn from her patients and take what’s she’s learned to develop better strategies to improve care for older adults in Canada.