Bruyère awarded CABHI funding for innovative projects
04/27/2018
Bruyère Continuing Care conducts innovative research every day, and new funding is the key to allowing this innovation to continue. Most recently, Bruyère has been selected as the recipient of funding from the Centre for Aging and Brain Health Innovation (CABHI), through their Spark Program and Researcher-Clinician Partnership Program (RCP²). The successful Spark projects are the Path to Home Passport and LIFEView initiatives, and the successful RCP² project is RESPECT.
What is the Path to Home Passport?
Discharging from a rehabilitative hospital stay is often an overwhelming endeavor for patients with dementia and their caregivers. It can be a great challenge trying to remember all of the advice and instructions given by staff, and so the Bruyère Geriatric Rehabilitation Program has been developing a solution to make the transition from hospital to home more seamless – The Path to Home Passport.
The Path to Home Passport is a workbook to be completed by the patient or caregiver before they are sent home, prompting questions to be asked and answered about what matters most to them in this transition. The passport also ensures that discharge instructions are written in an easy to understand way, as it is very important for seniors and caregivers to receive information that is accessible and can be easily shared with their primary care team.
This initiative received $49,544 in funding from CABHI’s Spark Program. The funds will be used for further expansion and testing, including using best evidence to develop a mobile application for patients and caregivers to use. The research will take place at Bruyère, in the John and Jennifer Ruddy Geriatric Day Hospital and the Geriatric Rehabilitation Programs.
Team Members | Roles |
Debbie Gravelle | Team Lead, Executive Sponsor |
Helen Niezgoda | BRI Operations Manager |
Max Paultre | Technology Lead |
Dr. Jay Mercer | Physician Consultant – Primary Care |
Dr. Anne Harley | Physician Consultant – Geriatric Rehabilitation Program |
Dr. Anne Monahan | Physician Consultant - Chair, BCC Care of the Elderly Physicians’ Association (COEPA) |
Dr. Chantal Bachman | Knowledge Translation Consultant |
Chantal Séguin | Clinical Manager – Geriatric Rehabilitation Program |
Jessica Singh | Physician Assistant – Restorative Care |
Patrick Hurteau | Director of Professional Practice for Allied Health |
Harvinder Singh | Pharmacist |
Judith Minorgan | Social Worker |
Carol Ryall | Privacy and Security Consultant |
Robert Arsenault | Graphic Arts Specialist |
Bruyère Library Services | Literature Review and Library Services |
Sandra Schmidt | Project Coordinator and Nurse |
What is LIFEView?
Reminiscence that helps an individual to reflect on and communicate one’s life story is called life review and is an important part of bringing one’s life to a close. Music is documented as being an enjoyable and emotionally-engaging aid to stimulate recall of memories. Less is known about the use of meaningful video recordings of places known to the older adult. In an effort to connect with these patient memories the Bruyère Palliative Care Team has been looking to innovative approaches for delivering reminiscence therapy – thus emerged LIFEView.
LIFEView is a new innovation based on the MOTiView solution, an audio and video library with over 1,200 items to select from.
The LIFEView research team will be using the CABHI funding to explore this use of music and video in creating reminiscences for life review and to improve the quality of life of patients admitted to palliative care. The research will take place on the Élisabeth Bruyère Hospital’s Palliative Care Unit and within patients’ homes. LIFEView has not been used in palliative care to date thus this project will open a new vertical for the industry partner.
Team Members | Roles |
Rebekah Hackbusch | Project Lead and Clinical Chaplain |
Dr. Jill Rice | Interim Chief of the Division of Palliative Care and Physician Lead for the Regional Palliative Consultation Team (RPCT) |
Dr. Peter Lawlor | Palliative Care Physician and Clinician Investigator |
Dr. Shirley Bush | Palliative Care Physician and Clinician Investigator |
Anne Mantha | Director of Clinical Programs, EBH |
Marie-Eve Pinard | Social Worker |
Mary-Anne Bourque | Clinical Chaplain |
Mario Daponte | Clinical Manager |
Marie-Claude Legacy | Practice Support Nurse |
Monisha Kabir | Research Assistant |
What is RESPECT?
Most people want to die at home surrounded by their family and loved ones. For many, having the support they need to die at home starts with a discussion about what to expect. This often doesn’t happen. Part of the challenge is overcoming the difficulty of talking about death.
Drs. Peter Tanuseputro and Doug Manuel, along with their colleagues from research institutions across Canada, have developed a web-based tool – the RESPECT CALCULATOR – specifically for this need. They are now refining and evaluating the tool before implementation in Canada.
RESPECT is short for Risk Evaluation for Support: Predicting Elder life in the Community Tool. It is a predictive tool that calculates how long you will live based on questions you answer. These questions surround your health condition, such as what diseases you have and how difficult it is to care for yourself. RESPECT is for people or their caregivers who are uncertain whether they are approaching the end of their life. RESPECT can also be used by formal caregivers such as physicians, home care staff or palliative care teams.
This project received $249,000 in funding to continue their efforts for 15 months. This CABHI funding will help further develop RESPECT, and engage in evaluating its impact on older adults and their caregivers.
Team Members | Job Title |
Dr. Peter Tanuseputro | Investigator, Bruyère Research Institute and the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute |
Dr. Douglas Manuel | Investigator, Bruyère Research Institute and the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute |
The CABHI Spark program provides successful point-of-care workers in the North American health care industry with up to $50,000 each in funding to further develop their grassroots ideas into proof-of-concept or prototypes that have the potential to improve brain health or quality of life for older adults.
The CABHI Researcher-Clinician Partnership Program is designed to enhance the effectiveness of connecting point-of-care clinicians in seniors care with university-based researchers. Providing up to $500,000 in funding per project, these collaborators are empowered to design, test and validate innovative products, services or health practices in aging and brain health in a real-world care setting.
You can read the full funding announcement on the CABHI website.
Other Bruyère initiatives funded by CABHI
Spark Program:
- Intelligent Mobile and Web-Based Alerts Application to Help Detect and Prevent Falls in the Long-Term Care Setting – Teresa Lee
- Implementation of an Innovative Home-Based Virtual Reality Training Program – Drs. Hillel Finestone, Frank Knoefel and Lisa Sheehy
Knowledge Mobilization Partnership Program:
- Building Capacity for De-prescribing Guideline Development, Implementation and Evaluation – Dr. Barbara Farrell
- The Power of Peer Support: Reducing Social Isolation in Residential Care Settings – Zsofia Orosz
Industry Innovation Partnership Program:
- Motivational Exercise & Cognitive Training – Bruyère Research Institute/Bruyère Continuing Care, Baycrest, West Park Health Centre
Researcher-Clinician Partnership Program:
- Cognitive Impairment: Technology to Monitor Night-Time Wandering Amongst Persons with Dementia – Drs. Frank Knoefel and Rafik Goubran
To learn more about these funding recipients and the Spark Program, read the full announcement on the Bruyère website.