Chair
Fiona Green
Fiona is a long-time advocate for older adults, community health, and home and community care services, with post-graduate training in gerontology and education. She is a former program manager for the Toronto Central CCAC, manager of the SPRINT Senior Care Adult Day Program, and board chair for Ewart Angus Homes. Her experience includes human resource management, social service programming, policy development and implementation, and international development.
Vice Chair
John Bagnall
Educated in political science and recently retired from a community-based non-profit agency, John has a lifelong interest in government policies, including those affecting older adults. He understands the needs of older Ontarians experiencing chronic health challenges, as well as the need for affordable, accessible, high quality community supports to age safely in their homes and communities. He sees reform of supportive housing and community services, including increased funding and application of Canada Health Act principles, as priorities.
Treasurer
Nazrawit Gebeto
After coming to Canada from Kenya, Nazrawit obtained her Canadian CPA designation. She has experience working with NGOs and charities providing nutritious food, eye care, and sustainable housing for community older adults in Isiolo, Kenya. Her education is in finance and accounting, including an MBA, Finance, from The Netherlands’ Nyenrode Business Universiteit.
Secretary
Arash Masoumi
Holding a master’s degree in Public Policy, Administration and Law from York University, Arash has always been interested in research, strategic thinking, and policy development. With over a decade of experience in both public and private sector environments, he has assisted with shaping a number of public policy files such as enhancing disaster insurance protection for homeowners, addressing employment barriers for interprovincial movement of professionals, and provincial/municipal negotiations on affordable housing. He has participated in University Settlement’s volunteer programs focused on providing services to youth and newcomers and has a passion for thinking and learning about how to advance sound public policy positions that benefit Canadians.
Past Chair
Gail Thompson
Gail’s experience spans various health care settings, beginning at the University of Toronto, where she helped manage health services research projects. She became involved with services for older adults while at the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, where she worked with the GTA LHINs on their Aging at Home initiatives. At West Park Healthcare Centre, she participated in annual service planning, planning the Geriatric Functional Enhancement Service and Acquired Brain Injury Day Program, and developing a strategy for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.
Directors
Janet Margaret Ashfield
Janet has a BComm and MBA from McMaster University and an LLM from Osgoode Law School. In addition to her professional experience in health care within community care mental health and diabetes management, she is passionate about supporting advocacy for compassionate and accessible services for older adults. Janet brings her own personal wealth of experience to the board, having actively supported her parents over the past 15 years and continuing to support her mother. Janet has personal experience advocating as an older adult caregiver for her parents to ensure health, social, and financial needs are met with dignity and respect. Janet is excited to begin supporting the work of Care Watch as it closely aligns with her own values of person-centred care.
Michèle Harding
Michèle holds a master’s degree in environmental studies from York University, and a BSc (Cum Laude) in Social Work from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Her foci have been community planning, social policy, and legislation. She believes in the strength of community, values community action, and has undertaken leadership roles in many local, city-wide, provincial, and international non-profit organizations to advocate for community health and health equity, including the South Riverdale Community Health Centre (past President), the Ontario Health Coalition (first Executive Director), the Ontario Public Health Association (former Director & Public Policy Chair), and the Ralph Thornton Community Centre (past Board and Planning Committee Chair). She has also worked on numerous community development projects relating to affordable housing, domestic violence reduction, employment training, literacy, and health and support services for older adults, youth, women, Indigenous people, and refugees. Michèle also serves as a board member of Elder Abuse Prevention Ontario.
Ann Heesters
Ann Heesters is the Senior Director of Clinical and Organizational Ethics at the University Health Network and an Assistant Professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, where she is course director for the capstone course in the MHSc program at University of Toronto’s Joint Centre for Bioethics. She has recently joined The Institute for Education Research (TIER), is an Academy Scholar at the Wilson Centre at University of Toronto, and is a Research Adjunct professor at University Health Network’s Michener Institute. Ann has practiced in the field of bioethics for more than twenty years and established ethics programs in two Canadian provinces. She recently joined the national Advisory Committee on Ethics for the Canadian Institute for Health Research. Ann has an abiding interest in professionalizing the work of health care ethicists. Her book, How Legal Theory Can Save the Life of Healthcare Ethics, is an exploration of ethics, objectivity, and conflict of interest in the context of a pluralistic society.
Jessica Hogle
Since 2020, Jessica has worked in public policy and advocacy for the Alzheimer Society of Ontario (ASO), a non-profit organization leading in care and research to help and support people living with dementia, their care partners and families in Ontario. At the ASO, her primary focus is to advocate on behalf of people living with dementia and their families and to support them through policy reform of Ontario’s health system. Much of her work has focused on visitation rights for families in long-term care, financial distress, and the development of ASO’s Roadmap Towards a Renewed Ontario Dementia Strategy. Jessica holds a Bachelor of Health Sciences and a Master of Public Health and Gerontology. She is also an active member on the research and advocacy committee for the Ontario Caregiver Coalition.
Staff
David Sider
David Sider is the part-time Administrative Coordinator for Care Watch. He has worked in the social services field with a variety of non-profit organizations including Community Living Toronto, Easter Seals, Safehaven Project for Community Living, and Frontier College. David has also worked with several environmental non-profit organizations in Canada, Malaysia, and India. When not at Care Watch, David teaches in the School of the Environment at the University of Toronto.
Care Watch 