Innovation in times of crisis

Strengthening COVID-19 response in long-term care facilities and hospitals

While all eyes were on the pandemic’s impact on patients and on the health system, researchers led by Bonnie Lashewicz, PhD, identified the disproportionate stress COVID-19 placed on care providers. The researchers worked with five facilities in Calgary, Edmonton and Okotoks to create and disseminate a mental health support toolkit tailored to long-term care workers in pandemic conditions.

Meanwhile, a team led by Zahra Goodarzi, MD, and Jayna Holroyd-Leduc, MD, set out to improve palliative care for vulnerable older adults by developing a clinical care pathway for frail older adults living in long-term care. The pathway improves the provision of end-of-life care within long-term care facilities, and avoids unnecessary transfer to hospital.

Learn more about work by Lashewicz and Goodarzi

By again looking at the pandemic in innovative ways, O’Brien Institute members found a power imbalance where no one was looking. A survey of frontline healthcare workers, conducted by Institute researchers, highlighted an urgent need for a gender transformative pandemic response strategy. Survey findings revealed that, among other inequities, men were more likely to hold pandemic leadership roles compared to women, and women, who make up a large majority of healthcare workers, were more likely to report increased domestic responsibilities than men.

COVID-19 and big data

In the early days of the pandemic, Tyler Williamson, PhD, along with colleagues at the Centre for Health Informatics (CHI), created the data-integrated CHI COVID-19 Tracker using Calgary and Alberta data to inform the municipal response to COVID-19. Additionally, Williamson and his team, using a multi-organizational and multi-disciplinary approach, worked with colleagues at Alberta Health and Alberta Health Services to predict how many COVID-19 cases to expect at the provincial and municipal levels, and what the demand would be on the healthcare system.

To further bolster this critical information, Nishan Sharma, EdD, collected data from around the world on the effectiveness of various public health interventions, such as physical distancing, closing schools and daycares, and limiting travel.

Williamson is also part of the team behind SeroTracker, an online tool that tracks and visualizes global COVID-19 serology testing data — testing that examines blood samples for antibodies which indicate whether a person has been exposed to the novel coronavirus.

SeroTracker, which provides valuable information to Canada’s COVID-19 Immunity Task Force, was developed by a group of students from six different universities in three different countries, including Rhodes Scholar Rahul Arora, who is mentored by Williamson.

Investigating drone delivery of medical supplies to remote communities during pandemic

Many remote communities in Canada do not have easy access to medical testing centres and supplies, making them especially vulnerable during a pandemic.

To respond to this need, researchers at the W21C Research and Innovation Centre, the O’Brien Institute, the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, Alberta Health Services, and Alberta Precision Laboratories partnered with the Stoney Nakoda Nations to deliver medical equipment and test kits for COVID-19 to remote areas, and to connect these communities to laboratories more quickly using these remotely piloted aircraft.