A $500,000 donation from Great-West Life, London Life and Canada Life to support the Chair in Occupational Medicine at Dalhousie Medicine New Brunswick (DMNB) is anything but business as usual.

In fact, it’s the companies’ largest-ever contribution in Atlantic Canada and it’s a testament to the innovative and leading-edge research and education program that is unfolding at Dalhousie Medicine New Brunswick.

“DMNB’s whole approach to medical education is really out-of-the-box thinking,” says Jan Belanger, Assistant Vice-President, Community Affairs, Great-West Life, London Life and Canada Life. “No one else is doing this. The way I see it, Dalhousie is looking at the whole continuum of medical education through a creative lens more than any other university in Canada. When they talk innovation, they are walking the talk.”

The $500,000 donation will fund a full-time PhD-qualified education specialist in occupational medicine and a part-time Masters-trained research associate to support DMNB’s New Brunswick-based Chair in Occupational Medicine. The Chair will promote training, research, and development in workplace risk management and occupational medicine. Emphasis will be on workplace health and safety, and accident prevention.

One area in which Belanger has a particular interest – and which will align with the work of the Chair – is workplace mental health. The companies’ Great-West Life Centre for Mental Health in the Workplace was instrumental in helping the federal government establish the National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health in the Workplace, a voluntary standard to be adopted later this year.

“We’re already working to close the gap between the public profile of mental health and the infrastructure required to support lasting change in the workplace,” says Belanger of the Centre, which offers tools and resources that can equip Canadian employers to address mental health issues. “It is our hope that people here in New Brunswick will tap into the Centre to help develop curriculum to tackle workplace mental health and psychological safety.”