Innovation: What It Can Mean for Health Care
“We need to implement innovation at every opportunity, and we need to make every opportunity to innovate.”
Dorothy Shephard
I have said it before, I am not a medical expert. Rather, I am a layman who has had an incredible opportunity to work above a system that every New Brunswicker relies on; our health care system. And most interesting is how that health care system works, or doesn’t work, particularly for older adults.
I listened with interest yesterday morning to a CBC report on the expansion of the Nursing Home Without Walls. This project was born out of a call for proposals through the Healthy Seniors Pilot Projects. HSPP was a $75 million, multi-year funding program, granted to New Brunswick through the Public Health Agency of Canada to develop research and find solutions to share with the rest of Canada for helping older adults age-in-place.
At the time, (2018) New Brunswick had the oldest demographic statistics for Canada and made us an obvious choice to launch this research.
The funding was issued through multiple rounds and though I am recalling from memory, a quick Google search speaks to projects that were announced in 2019, 2020 and 2022. These projects were all given structured timelines and once completed, were to be analyzed for their success. Then a final report would be issued to PHAC and those results shared with our sister provinces so they might implement the innovative programs that supported better outcomes for our older adult population.
Nursing Homes Without Walls was an early success, launching the first project in 2019. This project was the brainchild of Dr. Suzanne Dupuis-Blanchard of Universite de Moncton. The concept was brilliant in it’s simplicity to utilize trusted community assets to bring care and social opportunities for older adults. The first pilot had four sites including locations in both urban and rural New Brunswick. The program helped individuals access care needs, food programs and social activities. It’s success showed early and the program launched into expansion throughout New Brunswick. It is now funded by the provincial government and has 36 locations working to serve communities.
According to the CBC report, six other provinces are beginning to implement Nursing Home Without Walls. This is exactly what the HSPP program hoped to achieve.
Another successful project launched in May, 2022. Radiology on Wheels was the innovative collaboration UNB, Loch Lomond Villa Nursing Home and Horizon Health Network as a way to minimize unnecessary trips to Emergency Rooms. These visits are stressful for residents and often unnecessary. This program allowed residents to stay comfortably in their nursing home and the x-ray machine brought to them.
The pilot included one portable x-ray machine and technician shared between four nursing homes. Radiology on Wheels proved how beneficial it was not only for the resident , but also for the health care system as a whole, with a substantial (95%) number of visits to the ER departments diverted. It provided faster diagnosis ro the resident in the comfort of familiar surroundings. And the fewer that did need to go to hospital, could be planned for and that impact minimized as well. It is now implemented province-wide through the Extra Mural.
These projects were real successes and their innovation will benefit all of Canada. I have never seen a completed report of all the projects that were funded. I was disappointed that some projects I thought held real promise did not make it across the line by those judging their merits. But New Brunswick was trusted with $75 million and we need to be accountable for the use and outcomes of that money. I know I look forward to hearing the completed research projects outcomes.