Event Date: Oct 22, 2026

Due to the taboos of death and fears associated with mortality, open discussions about death and dying are often avoided. This is particularly true in the dementia context due to the profound stigma associated with dementia, which results in the lack of opportunities for people living with dementia (PLwD) to share their wishes for end-of-life (EOL), and also limits understanding of how to support those wishes. This has severe consequences for PLwD who often suffer painful, over-medicalized, inhumane, and undignified EOL experiences.

Join members of the ‘Dying on Our Own Terms’ Project team to explore what relational caring at end-of-life looks like from the perspectives of PLwD, family members, and professionals, how to better support relational caring at EOL for all involved, and to hear from PLwD and family members about why addressing this is so important.

 



    


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Presenter(s):

Dr. Sherry Dupuis – Dr. Dupuis is a Professor Emerita and former University Research Chair at the University of Waterloo. She is also the former Director of the Murray Alzheimer Research and Education Program, and current co-director of the Partnerships in Dementia Care Alliance. Inspired by her six years working in long-term care, her research draws on critical and relational theories and uses critical participatory action research and arts-based methodologies to challenge stigma associated with dementia, expose inhumane and harmful policies and practices for people living with dementia and their informal and formal care partners, and promote more compassionate, relational approaches to dementia care, including at end of life.
  
Dr. Pia Kontos – Dr. Kontos is a Senior Scientist at the KITE Research Institute – University Health Network and Professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto. Her research focuses on socio-cultural dimensions of aging and disability with attention to challenging stigma associated with dementia. She draws on critical and relational theories, and conducts participatory, community-engaged, and arts-based research to bridge her research on embodiment, citizenship, and human rights with the ethics and practice of dementia care.
  
Bill Heibein – Diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease in 2000, Bill Heibein is a committed Dementia Champion.  He has supported the Alzheimer Society of Thunder Bay, the Alzheimer Society of Ontario, the Alzheimer Society of Canada, the Murray Alzheimer Research and Education Program at the University of Waterloo, and the Centre for Education and Research on Aging and Health at Lakehead University. He received the “Excellence in Dementia” award in 2013 by the North West Dementia Network and recently was awarded an Honorary Degree from Lakehead University. He is a co-researcher on the ‘Dying on Our Terms’: A Relational Caring End-of-Life Dementia Project.
 
Andrea Bridge – Andrea Bridge is a person who lives with dementia, a co-researcher on the ‘Dying on Our Terms’: A Relational Caring End-of-Life Dementia Project, and an artist. Before transitioning into full-time advocacy for the dementia community, she worked in Ontario's healthcare system as a Registered Practical Nurse (RPN) and holds a Bachelor of Social Work (BSW). Following her diagnosis with frontal lobe dementia, she shifted her professional and personal focus toward supporting others navigating similar neurodegenerative changes. She serves as the Co-Lead for The Dementia Empowerment Network, a grassroots provincial network dedicated to building peer-led support groups, raising public awareness, and educating professional sectors on the strengths of peer programming. She actively collaborates with regional organizations like MICE (Memory Inclusive Communities Everywhere) and the Hamilton Council on Aging.
 
Linda Grossman – Linda Grossman cared for her husband, Dr. S. William “Mickey” Grossman, D.D.S., who was diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment in 2006 and passed away during the pandemic. Linda is now a passionate dementia advocate committed to improving the care experiences of people living with dementia and their family members. She is a member of the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging’s Engagement of People with Lived Experience of Dementia (EPLED) advisory group and is a co-researcher on the ‘Dying on Our Own Terms’: A Relational Caring End-of-Life Dementia Project.