The Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation (CABHI) is proud to announce an investment of $8.3M in 26 new projects to accelerate solutions that will improve the quality of life and care for older adults. Led by Baycrest Health Sciences, CABHI partners with clinicians, researchers, and companies worldwide. The projects promote public and private collaborations among several industry and healthcare organizations. These organizations are working together to test and/or accelerate the dissemination and adoption of innovations in the seniors’ care sector – helping to drive economic development in Ontario, Canada and beyond.
2017 Recipients of the Industry Innovation Partnership Program
Ably Bed — Ably Medical AS
Hosts: Hamilton Health Sciences, West Park Health Centre, Southlake Regional Health Sciences
Description: The Ably Bed uses state-of-the-art technology and machine learning to create the hospital bed that knows, learns, mobilizes and collaborates with patients in risk of falls and pressure ulcers and their medical professionals.
Advancing Recreation and Cognitive Engagement through Technology — Linked Senior
Host: Responsive Health Management Inc.
Description: The Linked Senior technology enables the customer to better meet the needs of the older adult by matching their interest areas and cognitive abilities with activities that align with their unique history and preferences so that the resident is more engaged for a longer period of time.
Evaluating the efficacy and safety of Photobiomodulation Therapy for Alzheimer’s Disease — Vielight Inc.
Hosts: Capital Care Group Inc.
Description: The Vielight Neuro delivers brain photobiomodulation to end users, a form of light therapy stimulating cognitive health. This project will build on early, promising results to use photobiomodulation to treat the effects of Alzheimers Disease.
Media: Medical startups seek healthy growth abroad, The Globe and Mail, Nov. 1, 2017
Evaluation of the Circura + Rosie medication management and reminder device to enhance independent medication compliance in the home setting — LifeAssist Technologies Inc. Hosts: Toronto Central Community Care Access Centre (CCAC), Baycrest (Reuben Cipin)
Description: LifeAssist’s care-collaboration SaaS application (Circura) and our smart in-home, senior friendly device (Rosie) provide the connectivity between smart homes, smart hospitals and smart long-term care facilities. Our secure platform connects the people, data, and devices required to coordinate care tasks, medication adherence, calendars and the sharing of care information.
Motivational Exercise & Cognitive Training — Motitech AS
Hosts: Bruyère Research Institute/Bruyère Continuing Care, Baycrest (Reuben Cipin), West Park Health Centre
Description: Motiview motivates elderly people and people with dementia to increase their physical activity and cognitive training. By using videos, music/sound, the user can take a virtual bicycle trip through familiar surroundings and memories.
Marketplace to Access Trusted Care at Home (MATCH) — Marketplace to Access Trusted Care at Home (MATCH) — uCarenet Technologies Inc.
Hosts: William Osler Health System, Baycrest, Perley and Rideau Veterans Health Centre
Description: The Marketplace to Access Trusted Care at Home (MATCH) allows seniors and their family members to connect with professional caregivers to hire direct home care services. The platform helps seniors find care that meets their personal needs and preferences in an accessible, affordable manner.
Next-generation medication dispenser to improve care at home for community-dwelling elderly — AceAge Inc.
Host: West Park Healthcare Centre, Capital Care Group Inc.
Description: KARIE is an Automated Medication Delivery Device for Home and Community Care. KARIE delivers medication with the right dose at the right time, monitors adherence, sends reminder alarms and timely reports.
2017 Recipients of the Researcher-Clinician Partnership Program
ArtOnTheBrain: An inclusive evidence-based cognitive health app for older adults to promote aging at home
Dr. Kelly Murphy, Principal Investigator
Host: Baycrest Health Sciences
Description: Art-on-the-Brain uses visual art presented in an interactive online environment to stimulate cognition and encourage social connections amongst users through a series of enjoyable learning and gaming activities.
Be EPIC: Person-Centered Communication with Home Care Clients with Dementia
Dr. Marie Savundranayagam, Principal Investigator
Host: Western University
Description: Be EPIC is a first-of-its kind training program that trains PSWs to use person- centered communication (PCC) to address the unmet needs of persons with dementia.
Clinical validation of the Cogniciti Brain Health Assessment for identifying older adults at risk of dementia
Dr. Angela Troyer, Principal Investigator
Host: Baycrest Health Sciences
Description: Cogniciti’s online brain health assessment can help adults over the age of 40 determine whether the symptoms of memory loss that they may be experiencing are normal for their age, or that they should be examined further by their doctor. Cogniciti thereby enables individuals to potentially benefit from early assessment and identification of a problem, leading to earlier diagnosis and treatment.
Cognitive Impairment: Technology to Monitor Night-Time Wandering Amongst Persons with dementia
Dr. Frank Knoefel, Principal Investigator
Host: Bruyère Research Institute
Description: The Wander Detection and Diversion (WDD) System integrates multiple low-cost sensors to seamlessly guide patients with dementia to their usual night-time destination safely by activating soft home lighting and pre-recorded verbal cues using caregiver and/or familiar voices. An alarm sounds if they try to leave the home during the night.
DATADAY: daily support for people with dementia
Dr. Arlene Astell, Principal Investigator
Host: Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences
Description: DataDay is a user-friendly application that provides daily support, reminders and monitoring to individuals with dementia to enable them to see how they are doing. Through the clinician portal, their clinical team will have access to previously unavailable data that can enable them to identify problems emerging and avert potential crises including avoidable hospital admissions.
Establishing concurrent and predictive validity of a novel emotional memory screening test to detect preclinical Alzheimer’s disease
Dr. Linda Mah, Principal Investigator
Host: Baycrest Health Sciences
Description: The Emotional Verbal Learning Test (EVeLT) is a 5-minute paper-and-pencil test that was developed to assess emotional memory, a form of memory that is affected in older adults who are at risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease.
Predicting Emergency Department Delirium with an Interactive Customizable Tablet to Prevent Repeat Visits App
Dr. Jacques Lee, Principal Investigator
Host: Sunnybrook Research Institute
Description: Patients play a “serious game” that assesses risk of delirium based on their performance.
Reducing ED Visits in patients with dementia after hospital discharge by providing patient and family-oriented discharge instructions generated by an electronic system
Dr. Robert Reid, Principal Investigator
Host: Trillium Health Partners
Description: Care Connector aims to reduce unnecessary ED visits and hospital re-admissions by better supporting dementia patients with their transition from hospital back to the community. The software supports inter-professional communication, generating and sharing Patient Oriented Discharge Summaries (PODS), which provides patients and their Circel of Care with an easy to understand, patient friendly discharge summary.
The Hippocamera: A Situationally Aware Memory Prosthetic
Dr. Morgan Barense, Principal Investigator
Host: University of Toronto
Description: This project will develop a novel memory prosthetic that reorganizes and replays movies of an individual’s life to stabilize memories and reduce MCI-related decline.
2017 Recipients of the Knowledge Mobilization Partnership Program
Building Capacity for Deprescribing Guideline Development, Implementation and Evaluation
Dr. Barbara Farrell, Principal Investigator
Host: Bruyère Research Institute
Description: The goals of this project are to create and disseminate deprescribing guideline products (e.g. videos, apps) to help health care providers (HCP) use the guidelines and facilitate patient-HCP deprescribing conversations, to aid the development of new deprescribing guidelines, and to further guideline implementation and evaluation activities.
Building Capacity for Integrating Dance in Long-Term Care
Melissa Tafler, Principal Investigator
Host: Baycrest Health Sciences
Description: Introducing dance to long-term care settings offers an adoptable practice to positively impact cognitive and physical health, self-expression, social cohesion, and deepen creative engagement for individuals with dementia and their caregivers.
Comprehensive Dementia Assessment and Support for Dementia Patients in NPLCs
Theresa Agnew, Principal Investigator
Host: Nurse Practitioners’ Association of Ontario
Description: Think Research will implement a comprehensive dementia assessment tool to disseminate provincial quality standards pertaining to the management of patients with dementia.
Dementia-Inclusive Retirement Communities
JoAnn Prior, Principal Investigator
Host: Ontario Retirement Communities Association
Description: To provide truly supportive environments that allow seniors to age in place, and the setting of their choice, retirement community operators must facilitate a dementia-inclusive culture in all aspects of their operations. In an effort to guide the sector towards becoming dementia-inclusive, ORCA has begun creating a toolkit of measurement tools and best practices, as well as education and training to reduce stigma levels and change the culture around dementia care in retirement communities.
Individualized Medications Management in Ontario Long Term Care
Candace Chartier, Principal Investigator
Host: Ontario Long-Term Care Association
Description: The OLTCA is partnering with Think Research and GeneYouIn to drive best practices in personalized medication management to high-needs, polymed, long-term care home residents. For over 55 years, the Ontario Long-Term Care Association (OLTCA) has been committed to advancing the quality of long-term care services in Ontario. With advocacy and leadership as a key focus, the Association has been able to influence legislative, policy and regulatory change, support sector expansion and redevelopment, and provide educational opportunities to ensure the increasing needs of residents are being met with safe, high-quality care.
Minds in Motion®: Nurturing the well-being of Canadians with dementia through fitness and social activity
Mary Schulz, Principal Investigator
Host: Alzheimer Society of Canada
Description: Minds in Motion® offers a community-based program that encourages exercise and mental activity among people with dementia to help improve cognition, physical function and well-being.
Real-world solutions for improving cognitive fitness: using the Internet to translate and scale scientifically validated programs for older adults
Dr. Brian Levine, Principal Investigator
Host: Baycrest Health Sciences
Description: Goal Management Training® (GMT) targets decline in executive functions such as planning, problem-solving, and multi-tasking. GMT trains individuals to periodically stop ongoing behaviour to interrupt automatic processing, apply mindfulness skills, bring their overarching goal to mind, and monitor performance. The Memory and Aging Program® (MAP) targets normal memory decline; participants learn a toolkit of proven strategies to maximize day-to-day memory function and make lifestyle changes to optimize brain health.
Supportive Oral Health for Seniors
Nelly Villacorta-Siegal, Principal Investigator
Host: Baycrest Health Sciences
Description: PSWs will be trained to look for dental concerns using a modified Oral Health Assessment Tool (OHAT) . The project nurse and hygienist will implement an online learning module to show how to properly utilize the assessment tool form and when to refer to a hygienist. The module will include tips on effective tooth brushing and mouth care.
The North-South Brain Health Educational Course Initiative
Dr. Guy Proulx, Principal Investigator
Host: York University
Description: The project goal is to increase the level of knowledge of professionals specializing in neurological conditions and geriatrics in areas such as cognitive health and neurodegenerative diseases.
The Power of Peer Support: Reducing Social Isolation in Residential Care Settings
Zsofia Orosz, Principal Investigator
Host: Bruyère Continuing Care
Description: Java Music and Java Memory Care are standardized peer-support group programs that can be implemented across the full spectrum of care. The Java Programs aim to reduce the stigma associated with support groups by reflecting a warm social setting, incorporating coffee and music.
