As Canada’s population ages, demand is growing for home-based healthcare that supports seniors’ safety, independence, dignity, and wellbeing. Providers face complex moral challenges. With limited resources, they must implement care plans for seniors with complex health needs, social isolation, financial strain, and family conflict, often in unpredictable home environments. Repeated exposure to these pressures can cause intense distress when providers are unable to act in line with their moral values—an experience known as moral distress—which can lead to burnout and workforce loss, weakening the systems seniors rely on.
To address this, Northern Health is implementing the Moral Empowerment System for Healthcare (MESH) among community care teams. MESH builds individual, team, and organizational capacity to navigate ethical challenges through a multi-level approach: structured learning that equips providers with knowledge, skills, and tools for ethical decision-making; team-based training that fosters collaboration and shared decision-making; and system-wide supports that sustain practice changes initiated by individuals and teams. By strengthening the workforce, MESH aims to improve care quality and access for seniors and families.
Keywords: Aging, Implementation Science
Team members:
- Rai Read
- Esther Alonso-Prieto (Primary Applicant Co-Lead)
- Angela De Smith (Executive Sponsor)
- Caroline Sanders (Evaluation Co-Lead)
- Sandra Mehan
- Erica Koopmans
- Rozanna Rosarydasan
- Viviane Josewski
- Danielle Haggarty
- Jessica Fee
- Melinda Allison