Sanaah Dodhia (BKin 2015) is currently working as a Change Leader in Access, Care and Transitions, at Fraser Health. Sanaah transferred to UBC’s School of Kinesiology after completing her Diploma in Sports Science at Douglas College and enrolled in the BKin program with the goal of becoming a physiotherapist.
Her most unforgettable KIN classes were with senior instructor emerita Dr. Gail Wilson, who “challenged my view of Kinesiology as a Health Science and helped me refine my vocabulary and boost my confidence as a communicator.” Sanaah also had the opportunity to work with Dr. May Brown (1919-2019) who motivated her to further explore her passion. “Dr. Brown would tell me stories of how it was to be a woman who advocated for sport in BC and nationally, during her time,” states Sanaah, “it was her passion for outdoor and sport education that kept my spark and love for kinesiology alive.”
As a student, Sanaah was an active leader in various UBC establishments, including UBC REC, Active Kids, the Kin Advising Office, Ritsumeikan-UBC House and Fraser Hall. She was also one of Make Your Mark UBC’s key leaders and lobbied for the School’s future home, the UBC Gateway Building. She took full advantage of the opportunities offered her at UBC. Although her goal was to enter the UBC Physiotherapy program, it was through her extracurricular activities that she recognized she had bigger interests. “I pretty much did nothing related to physiotherapy outside of my studies,” notes Sanaah, “and I realized in my fourth year that I should take some time to work in the field of kinesiology to find out which area interested me most.” It turned out that those interests were none other than working in events and operations.
Sanaah began her career journey at Tapestry Senior Living, where she worked as a kinesiologist. She transitioned to recreation management when she managed the opening of Amica Edgemont Village, a senior’s residence in North Vancouver. She was honoured as Innovator of the Year for “her efforts in creating meaningful programming for seniors” and her team was awarded the Lease Up Excellence Award for “filling occupancy in a record amount of time.” Since then, Sanaah has successfully led three of the largest private senior living residence openings in Western Canada as a Coordinator and Project Manager. Her remarkable success continued when she moved on to work at Retirement Concepts as a General Manager of Long-Term Care and Assisted Living. She was the youngest person to fulfill this position and has effectively led senior living during the COVID-19 pandemic.
When asked about her thoughts about the state of long-term care for senior citizens during the COVID-19 pandemic, Sanaah comments, “My personal experience is that COVID-19 has put a great amount of stress on the health care system, especially in long-term care, in areas of staffing and resources and the ultimate impact has been to our greatest stakeholder group which are the residents. However, in my experience, in the face of adversity, compassion and care prevail. Over the past 22 months, I have seen individuals sacrifice their time, resources, and energy for the betterment of our residents and their families and I’m grateful for having worked with and been inspired by these individuals. I don’t know if the broader public truly realizes the work that has gone into keeping our residents safe and I salute those whom I’ve served alongside that contributed to their safety.”
Her experience in senior living operations has led her to embark on an MBA at SFU and pursue her current career at Fraser Health. Combining her love of business and health care, her biggest career aspiration is to utilize her knowledge and experience to “enhance the lives of others.” Upon graduation, she hopes to either continue in senior living operations at an executive level or start her own business.
Sanaah’s advice to students: Get involved, take advantage of the resources that you have available to you, and keep an open mind as to where this degree can take you. Kinesiology is humongous – it does not only lead to being a kinesiologist, researcher, physiotherapist, occupational therapist, or doctor. University is the time for you to find your passion or create a new passion – use that time wisely!
