Dr. Elaine Gallagher
Dr. Elaine Gallagher is a Professor Emeritus in the University of Victoria School of Nursing, and held an adjunct appointment in the gerontology program at Simon Fraser University. She served as the third Director of the UVic Institute on Aging & Lifelong Health. Since 2000, her research has focused primarily on understanding the causes of falls among the elderly, and preventing them. Given that one third of all seniors fall at least once a year, 90 percent of hip fractures are the result of a fall, and 20 percent of seniors die within a year of sustaining a hip fracture, this is important work. Much of her work has been action research, using both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods.
In 1996, Dr. Gallagher received a Women of Distinction award from the Victoria YWCA for her work on elder abuse and gerontological nursing. In 2007, she was named Outstanding Alumni of the Year by SFU. She is also the recipient of a Distinguished Academic Award from CUFA BC, and has been a key member of two groups receiving the BC Premier’s Awards for work on making cities and towns more “Age Friendly” (AF). In retirement, Dr. Gallagher is working with First Nations in the Cowichan Valley and across BC on a project to reduce falls and fires among elders living on reserves.
In 2002, Dr. Gallagher was named the top nurse researcher in Canada by the Canadian Association of Nurse Researchers (CANR). “Dr. Gallagher’s commitment to researching the myriad of issues that affect the health and safety of older people has profoundly advanced Canada’s knowledge on how best to support the independence and quality of life of Canadian seniors,” said CANR President Lesley Young-Lewis. “Her research in the area of injury and falls prevention has raised awareness of and interest in the reduction of morbidity and mortality. She exemplifies not only the conduct of research, nationally and internationally, but the dissemination of the results worldwide.”
Dr. Gallagher’s involvement with AF work in Canada and abroad encapsulates her legacy in the roles of researcher, academic, and consultant. Defining roles have included lead researcher in the Canadian publication of the Age-Friendly Rural and Remote Communities Guide, contributor to the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) initiative to establish community indicators for measuring the outcomes of their AF projects, and consultant on a WHO steering committee to develop outcome indicators for international use in the evaluation of AF initiatives.