Caregiver Teleconnection

Elliot Montgomery Sklar, PhD and Lucy Barylak, MSW
Dr. Elliot Montgomery Sklar is a public health professional with two decades of experience in supporting the health of the public through academic work, research, and service. He has led healthy aging programs for seniors and for caregivers in Canada, Florida and virtually. Dr. Sklar is a professor of health science at Nova Southeastern University in Florida. He publishes and presents his work internationally, focused on the complexity of issues related to aging and caregiving. Lucy Barylak received her master's degree in Social Work from McGill University and has dedicated her career to supporting caregivers. Lucy was the founder and long-standing manager of the Caregiver Support Centre at the CLSC Rene-Cassin, a multi-service respite program for family caregivers and oversaw transference of knowledge for programs including Caregiving, Mental Health, Elder Abuse, and Palliative Care. In 2003 and 2012, she received the Queen's Jubilee Award, presented by the Canadian Homecare Association, and awarded on the basis her dedication in developing a national coalition to support the issues and challenges facing informal caregivers. Ms. Barylak also co-edited a book on caregiving issues entitled: Responding Creatively to the Needs of Caregivers: A Resource for Health Care Professionals published by Editions Saint-Martin (2002). In 2018, she was author to a chapter in Marguerite Blais, Minister of Seniors in Quebec, and Rosette Pipar's book titled: De la proche aidance a la bienveillance published by Marcel Broquet (2018). She has been a key architect of screening and assessment tools for family caregivers, and she provides trainings for health care professionals across North America on the use of these tools. Lucy is also a consultant for private industry, which includes work with the Wellmed Charitable Foundation and clinics in Texas. Lucy is also a liaison supervisor at the School of Social Work at McGill University