Apple Magazine – Spring 2014

Transcription

Spring 2014 | Issue 13
be healthy | be well | be informed
applemag.ca
Celebrating
research
A hotbed of
health innovations p 32
Why we research p 38
Meal Deal:
Almost spring
p 27
Now in partnership with:
applemag.ca 1
applemag.ca 2
Spring 2014
PHOTOGRAPHED
FOR APPLE
BY EWAN NICHOLSON
32
Hotbed of health-care
innovation
Treatments and technologies
discovered by Albertans
Departments
7 AHS MESSAGE
Celebrating health
research in Alberta
BITES
9 Research helps health care
improve one step at a time
8 YOUR COMMENTS
16
20
The right helmet is your head’s
best protection
Reduced wait times for
children’s services
New test detects colon cancer sooner
FIRST THINGS
12 Curiosity thrills the cat
The discovery of knowledge
drives many academic, scientific
and artistic pursuits
14Patients become researchers
to help other patients
Program brings more voices to
health care in Alberta
15 Watching diseases
to stop their spread
Provincewide data collection helps
shape health-care services
4 apple Spring 2014
16BUILDING BRAINS
Translating brain science
into stories
T urning science into part
of our everyday lives
18 GREAT EXPECTATIONS
Study looks at women’s weight
gain during pregnancy
Researchers strive to find ways to
support expecting moms
20 THE EARLY YEARS
Study prompts
community action
Alberta coalitions work to support
strong childhood development
22YOUTHFUL
The hoopla over the hookah
Study found good reason
to ban public use of shisha
Spring 2014
applemag.ca
PUBLISHED BY
Alberta Health Services
38
Why we
research
Research is central
to the quality,
innovative health
care Albertans want
BY CAITLIN CRAWSHAW
41
Smoothing
the research
road in
Alberta
44
Generous
Albertans
help fund
research
New programs aim
to improve the health
and health care of
Albertans
Donor support
changes lives and
advances knowledge
in the province
BY SCOTT ROLLANS
BY CONNIE BRYSON
INTERIM CO-CEOS
Brenda Huband
Rick Trimp
VP, COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
& COMMUNICATIONS
Colleen Turner
EDITOR & PUBLISHER
Terry Bullick
[email protected]
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT & CIRCULATION
Amy Sawchenko
[email protected]
EDITORIAL INTERN
Yolanda Genu
[email protected]
FEATURES EDITOR
Wanda Vivequin
ADVERTISING
Denice Hansen
[email protected]
DESIGNER
Jimi Scherer
PRODUCTION DESIGNER
Sherry Mumford
WEBSITE SUPPORT
Charity Sokolan, Marnie Bartell, GTExel
2450+
The growing gap between
seniors and research
Aging baby boomers are all but missing
from studies and clincial trials
26 KEEP IN MIND
When high conflict
enters divorce
48 A PASSION FOR HEALTH
Taking it to the streets
Kathryn Dong is helping people
in Edmonton’s inner city better
understand their health
52 MY HEALTH OUTLOOK
Dave Pommer
A realistic level of rejoicing
Families can pay the price
27 THE MEAL DEAL
Almost spring
A meal that mixes fresh flavour
with hearty comfort
27
EDITORIAL DIRECTION & REVIEW
Farah Bandali, Karen Benzies, Rosmin Esmail, Marisa Etmanski,
Shannon Evans, Laura Herperger, Debra Kasowski,
Heather Kipling, Judith Mascher, Katie McGillivray,
Judy Meintzer, Cathy Pryce, Dwayne Sheehan, Kathleen Thurber
CONTRIBUTORS
Jennifer Allford, Grant Black, Connie Bryson,
Jeff Collins, Caitlin Crawshaw, Shallon Cunningham,
Mark Davidson, Mike Fisher, Dawna Freeman, Greg Harris,
Jacqueline Louie, Cheryl Mahaffy, Trevor Millions,
Ewan Nicholson, Scott Rollans, Julie Van Rosendaal
INQUIRIES & SUBSCRIPTIONS
10101 Southport Road SW, Calgary, Alberta T2W 3N4
Phone: 403-943-2892
The information contained in this magazine is not intended
to be a substitute for professional/medical advice.
Always seek the advice of your physician or a qualified health
professional before starting any new treatment or
changing or stopping current treatment.
Statements, opinions and viewpoints expressed by the
writers of this publication do not necessarily represent the
views of Alberta Health Services. Furthermore, AHS
does not endorse any of the third-party advertisers.
Copyright 2014 by Alberta Health Services.
No part of this publication may be reproduced without
express written consent from AHS.
Canada Post Publication Agreement Number: 42468524
ISSN 1927-0305
30 BODY TALK
Extra weight can lead
to being extra tired
facebook.com/applemagca
People with sleep apnea can stop
breathing hundreds of times a night
applemag.ca 5
Contributors
1
SHERRY MUMFORD
Sherry’s work as a freelance production designer
has included best-selling books, widely read
magazines and hundreds of annual reports,
newsletters and brochures. A passionate golfer,
she has recently cut her time on the links to hike
and bike around Calgary.
1
3
2
2
WANDA VIVEQUIN
Wanda is a freelance writer and communications
specialist based in Edmonton, who oversaw our
feature stories this issue. She is the former editor
of Health Solutions magazine, produced by Alberta
Innovates – Health Solutions, and passionately
promotes living a healthy lifestyle. 3
JIMI SCHERER
Our award-winning features designer Jimi has
more than 20 years of experience, some of it
gained in the agency world. Now a freelancer,
she works with a variety of clients including the
Calgary Health Trust.
4
GRANT BLACK
Grant is crazy about pictures. He’s worked as a
photographer and photo editor for more than 30
years and loves photographing interesting people
doing real things. His work has appeared in scores
of newspapers, magazines and books.
5
YOLANDA GENU
Our chic intern Yolanda was delighted to help
art direct our cover shoot and work on all other
parts of Apple’s Spring 2014 issue. This fall she’s
graduating from Mount Royal University with a
bachelor of communication in public relations.
6
DENICE HANSEN
A graduate of Durham College’s marketing
program, our new advertising and marketing
advisor Denice has worked on numerous
advertising campaigns including the successful
Hell or High Water Foundation Flood Benefit Relief
Rodeo. When not strategizing, she loves to travel.
6 apple Spring 2014
4
6
5
AHS message
Your family’s health is
wrapped in research
to the first issue of Apple magazine
produced by Alberta Health Services
and Alberta Innovates – Health
Solutions (AIHS).
AIHS is our province’s leading
funder and supporter of health
research. AIHS collaborates with
the health system, publicly funded
post-secondary institutions, industry,
government and other partners to
support research and ensure research
results will make a difference in the
lives of Albertans and people around
the world.
For many years, AIHS and AHS
have worked closely on health research
initiatives and shared a common goal
to improve the health, health system
and well-being of Albertans.
To mark the new Apple partnership,
this issue is focused on celebrating
health research. Future issues will
also include stories about advances in
health research in Alberta and what
they mean for you and your family.
Your family’s health is wrapped
in research. It’s woven into your
grandmother’s dementia care, the
colonoscopy your father had last year
and understanding your toddler’s early
childhood development. And that lowsalt, low-fat dinner you’re planning to
eat tonight? It’s also based on health
research.
As our story Why We Research on
page 38 notes: Almost every aspect of
the health-care system is and needs
Photo: Trevor Millions, TMJ Photography
We’re pleased to welcome you
to be evidence based or informed
by good, solid research. Research
is the foundation of a high-quality,
innovative health-care system.
Alberta has a proud and
accomplished history in health
research. The discoveries we’ve
made in this province have helped to
improve the health of Albertans as
well as people around the world. Our
story on page 32, Hotbed of Healthcare Innovation, looks at 25 of these
discoveries.
In our two other feature stories,
we look at new programs aimed at
making research easier in our province
(see Smoothing the Research Road in
Alberta on page 41) and how everyday
Albertans are supporting the discovery
of new knowledge (see Generous
Albertans Help Fund Health Research
on page 44).
A number of our regular columns
also focus on health research and
innovation.
We invite you to make your own
health research discoveries by reading
this issue.
— Dr. Cy Frank & Dr. Kathryn Todd
Cy Frank is the president and CEO of Alberta Innovates – Health
Solutions and an orthopedic surgeon in Calgary.
Kathryn Todd is the vice president of Research Innovation and
Analytics for Alberta Health Services.
Sponsors
Apple magazine is pleased to acknowledge its partners:
Founding Partner
For more information on where to find
Apple magazine, or to have it delivered
to your door, visit applemag.ca.
applemag.ca 7
Your comments
Dear Editor,
The Winter 2014 issue of Apple magazine
has been a pleasure to read. My colleague
brought it to my desk this afternoon to tell
me how good it was and I agree! I am not a
senior (far from it at 41), but I found all the
information it contained to be interesting,
helpful and relevant. Thank you for such
a great product and I expect you are
receiving many, many accolades.
— Sandy Marcynu
Dear Editor,
We picked up a copy of the Winter 2014
issue of Apple at the Red Deer Hospital
yesterday and were very impressed with all
the information in this magazine. We are in
our late 60s and found the information to
be very helpful.
— Gloria Gillrie
Dear Editor,
I’m a newish Alberta resident, having
returned from a six-year stint in Toronto.
My parents showed me the latest edition
of Apple magazine—it’s a terrific idea
for getting general information out to
the public on behalf of Alberta health
Services, and I was really impressed with
the “navigating the health-care system”
(seniors’ health) insert in the winter
edition.
— Virginia Pastway
COVER STORY
Next time in Apple
We look at life-changing moments
and how they affect health
Thanks to Sonja Franzmann (left) and
Donna Reid for posing for our Spring
2014 cover shoot. Both successful owners
of health and wellness businesses, they
jumped for joy for several hours as we
captured shots. Our Apple team also had
fun cheering them on.
— Amy Sawchenko
8 apple Spring 2014
Community building after disaster strikes
The day everything changed: five stories
Avoiding the toll of anxiety and stress
The power of support groups
Out June 2014
Bites
Photo: Fancy Photography
Research helps health care improve
one step at a time
The right helmet is your
head’s best protection
If you fall while bike riding,
skateboarding or in-line skating or are
hit playing hockey or other sports, a
helmet protects your skull from serious
injury such as fracture.
But an article in the March 2013
issue of the Clinical Journal of Sport
Medicine says there is “no good
clinical evidence” that currently
available protective gear will prevent
a concussion. The article was
co-written by 25 sport medicine
experts and based on consensus
researched at the Fourth International
Conference in Sport, held in Zurich
in 2012.
Concussions happen when the
brain continues to move inside the
skull after an impact. This disrupts
the part of the brain that controls
awareness and consciousness.
Studies have shown helmets and
headgear reduce impact to the brain
but those findings did not reveal a
lower rate of concussions. As well,
numerous research studies in Alberta,
the rest of Canada and around the
world are finding concussions are
much more serious and long-lasting
than thought. In 2011, the Canadian
Medical Association warned repeat
concussions can lead to permanent
changes in behaviour and personality,
early dementia and other brain
damage.
A helmet is still the best way to
protect your head, including your face
and teeth, while playing sports or in
activities that could result in a fall on
a hard surface. These include skiing,
snowboarding, cycling, motor and
equestrian sports, hockey, football and
rugby.
A helmet only works when it’s
being worn—and worn properly. That
includes wearing the right helmet for
your activity.
For information on the right helmet,
visit parachutecanada.org and click on
injury topics then helmets.
T o take Alberta Health Services’ bike
helmet YES Test, see our online edition
at applemag.ca.
A
lso see our website for the article Put
a Lid on It from our January/February
2011 issue.
— Amy Sawchenko
applemag.ca 9
Bites
Reduced wait times for
children’s services
universal problems such as wait
times. Children’s Allied Health
Services in Lethbridge, a part of
Alberta Health Services, cut 142
days off the wait time for its
services by using principles
researched and tested by the
Primary Care Initiative of Alberta.
Since 2003, the initiative has
helped health-care providers
effectively improve Albertans’
access to care.
Staff learned how better to get
patients into and through services
faster by, among other things,
making new clients a priority and
New test detects colon
cancer sooner
If you’re aged 50 to 74 with an
average risk of developing colon cancer,
you may now have an alternative
to a colonoscopy. The new fecal
immunochemical test (FIT) is simple:
you take a swab sample of your stool
to a lab, where it’s tested for blood
from the colon, a potential sign of
precancerous polyps or cancer.
Clinical research trials in Edmonton
and Calgary found FIT is the most
accurate screening test you can get. It’s
so effective that you will only need a
colonoscopy if you have a pre-existing
condition, a family history of the cancer
or if a FIT detects blood in the stool.
The Alberta Colorectal Cancer
Screening Program recommends using
FIT as your yearly screening tool,
increasing the chance of prevention
and early detection and decreasing wait
times for results.
— Amy Sawchenko
For more about FIT and cancer
screening, visit screeningforlife.ca.
10 apple Spring 2014
Photo: Alloy Photography
Research can help solve
creating a central booking system—
all without increasing staff.
“We didn’t do groundbreaking
research, but we found a way to cut
wait times for our services,” says
Alison Pavan, a physiotherapist at
Children’s Allied Health Services.
“Now we regularly track our wait
times and look at what we can do to
improve them.”
If you or someone you know is
experiencing problems with alcohol,
tobacco, other drugs or gambling,
we can help.
Contact your local AHS Addiction and
Mental Health office or call the 24-hour,
toll-free addiction helpline.
Change is possible.
1-866-332-2322
albertahealthservices.ca
applemag.ca 11
First things
Curiosity
thrills the
cat
The discovery of knowledge
and artistic pursuits
a cat down alleyways for juicy bits of
information starts as soon as we’re
born.
Children learn by exploring and
playing. Something fascinates them,
just because it’s there. We reach out
through the senses as we see, hear,
move, smell, taste and feel. As we
learn, we discover our preferences, for
sweet or sour, loud or soft, and this
shapes our temperament.
Adults can help children nurture
their curiosity by letting them safely
explore, first through their senses and
then through physical activity, say
experts. As children become toddlers
and preschoolers, they find other
ways to explore with pretend play and
storytelling.
Photo: Corbis Photography
Letting the mind wander like
Curiosity at any age can spur exploration, creativity and innovation.
Encourage the courage to be curious
As we grow, we may seem to chase
our tails for the sake of it, but curiosity
and artistic pursuits. It can open
roadways to adventure and pathways
to innovation, in research, and in our
everyday lives.
“In research, as the word implies, we
search for answers, which bring more
questions,” says Marek Michalak, a
distinguished university professor in
the Department of Biochemistry at the
University of Alberta. “You must have
the courage of being curious without
the expectation of always having a
definite payoff.”
It’s important that students
understand—and this understanding
must often come from their parents,
teachers, coaches and mentors, he
says—that failure is okay. It can mean
doing things differently or waiting
longer for success. “Failure is an ugly
word and no one likes it, but you have
to be able to overcome failures to build
a stronger mind and personality.”
Where curiosity fits in the working
world
Curiosity can often be predicted by a
personality trait known as openness
to experience, says Derek Chapman,
an associate professor of industrialorganizational psychology at the
University of Calgary.
Those with a high level of openness
to experience want to know why
things work the way they do. They
enjoy reading, sciences and social
sciences. Those with a low level like
concrete things and dealing with the
familiar.
“The natural skill that accompanies
curiosity is cognitive ability or
intelligence,” says Chapman, a human
resources expert. “Individuals higher
in cognitive ability are able to see more
relationships among things in their
environment and problem solve using
unique approaches.”
But not all jobs benefit from curious
employees.
People more open to experience
get bored quickly in jobs with a lot of
routine, leading to dissatisfaction and
turnover, he says. Instead, they tend to
thrive where creativity is paramount,
for example as scientists, writers and
graphic designers.
“Finding the right person for the
right job means understanding what
the job entails and finding people
whose knowledge, skills and abilities
are a good match,” says Chapman,
whose company Counterpart
Match specializes in employee
selection.
Whatever you do, don’t stop
exploring, just as you did as a child.
“The important thing is not to stop
questioning,” said Albert Einstein.
“Curiosity has its own reason for
existing.”
If only we had nine lives.
— Mike Fisher
applemag.ca 13
First things
Illustration: ImageZoo Illustration
Patients become
researchers
to help other
patients
Program brings more voices to health care
in Alberta
The pain in osteoarthritis patient Jean Miller’s left knee
prompted her to blaze a new trail for others in Alberta’s
evolving health-care system—as a researcher.
Miller, 68, of Calgary, is one of more than 20 graduates
of the innovative Patient and Community Engagement
Research (PACER) program. The year-long program by
Alberta Health Services and the Institute for Public Health
at the University of Calgary gives Miller and others a say in
how the provincial health-care system meets patient needs.
“For many people, having osteoarthritis means worrying,
uncertainty and fearing the unknown,” says Miller, who
until three years ago was a registered nurse and taught
nursing at Mount Royal University. She is now a patient
researcher with the Bone and Joint Health Strategic Clinical
Network. “I’m helping to bring the voices of more patients to
the health-care system.”
In the program, current and past patients learn formal
research methods and work with one of AHS’s 10 strategic
clinical networks to interview patients. The information they
gather is then used to consider how the health-care system
can be improved.
Miller says osteoarthritis patients waiting for treatment
have many questions.
“What can we do while we wait with this chronic
condition that gets worse with time? How do we deal with
the vicious cycle of more pain, more immobility and gaining
more weight? These are some of the questions that arose for
our research team.”
The Bone and Joint Health Network is using this
information to transform osteoarthritis care for Albertans.
Dr. Linda Woodhouse, scientific director for the Bone and
Joint Health Network, says: “This has taken patient input to
a new level and provinces across the country are asking us
what we’re doing.” Tracy Wasylak, AHS’s vice president of Strategic Clinical
Networks, says Miller and others are making a difference.
“Clinicians seek their opinions and ensure that when
planning care, it makes sense for the patients.”
— Mike Fisher
For more information about the PACER program, visit iph.
ucalgary.ca/pacer.
First things
Watching diseases to stop
their spread
Illustration: Keng Ho Toh
Provincewide data collection helps shape health-care services
Gathering health information can help reduce illness and injury.
A contagious disease can
spread through a community like
wildfire, making people sick, emptying
schools and workplaces and filling
hospital beds. To prevent and control
the spread of disease, Alberta Health
Services collects information about
where and how diseases affect
Albertans.
The Alberta Public Health
Surveillance program increased the
health data it collects in the early 2000s,
after an outbreak of a pneumonia-like
condition called SARS in Southeast
Asia spread to Toronto. Today, the
program gathers information about
a number of contagious and noncontagious diseases as well as illnesses
and injuries, ranging from seasonal
influenza to vehicle collisions.
“The information helps us identify
and control the spread of diseases early
on, so we can prevent further spread,
or at least slow down further spread
of transmissible disease,” says Dr.
Robert Briggs, provincial lead medical
officer of health for Surveillance and
Infrastructure.
“When the southern Alberta floods
occurred in June 2013, we were able
to use our surveillance capabilities to
provide information to public health
workers across the province so they
could identify early trends in diseases
and inform the public about the risks
of the flood, including contaminated
floodwater,” he says.
Also in 2013, AHS was able to
quickly control an outbreak of measles
in the Lethbridge area. Health-care
workers used surveillance information
to work closely with the provincial
laboratory to immunize people at
risk. Briggs says getting and sharing
information can help shape decisions
about and responses to emerging
health threats, emergencies and
disasters. In turn, these decisions can
reduce the severity of diseases and
injuries and even save lives.
While the information gathered is
detailed, it does not contain anyone’s
name, protecting the privacy of
Albertans. It is also a valuable
resource for public health research
projects into how diseases develop and
for shaping public health policy in the
province.
— Yolanda Genu
applemag.ca 15
Photo: Ocean Photography
Building brains
Translating brain science
into stories
Turning science into part of our everyday lives
Innovation is the fuel that
propels our society forward. This fuel
is a mix of sound scientific and public
understanding.
While scientists and researchers are
discovering new knowledge at faster
and faster speeds, our collective ability
to truly understand—and use—it can
take somewhat longer.
Take the case of the core story of the
brain.
Scientific knowledge about the
brain is complex (few people know the
amygdala is an almond-shaped mass of
matter in the brain that plays a key role
in regulating emotions). And each new
discovery tends to be small, building
on those before it. To make sense of
it, new knowledge has to be brought
together, reviewed and translated into
a common language.
Above all, it has to have champions:
people and organizations that take the
knowledge into the world, over time.
More than a decade ago, the
Harvard Center for the Developing
Child put together a team of experts
to develop the core story of the brain.
The team included highly respected
neurobiologists, developmental
psychologists, pediatricians and
economists. Rounding out the team
was staff with a Washington, D.C.
think-tank called the FrameWorks
Institute, which uses communications
science to help translate complex
knowledge into easily understood
information.
The Harvard Center’s goal is
to gather and communicate the
science of early childhood and early
brain development. The hope is
to have people better understand
what it means to their families and
communities and that it can be used to
shape public policy.
As well, the Harvard Center
wanted to “move beyond the public’s
fascination with the ‘latest study’” and
look at a body of research that was well
reviewed by other scientists.
Translating science can be a tough
task. And where scientific knowledge
is based on data and evidence, the
public is far more likely to embrace
knowledge when it is told through
“sticky” (memorable) metaphors and
stories.
As the core story of the brain
(and by extension early childhood
Building brains
development) was developed, so were
metaphors such as brain architecture,
serve and return, air traffic control,
faultlines, levelness and toxic stress.
These terms, which were developed
by FrameWorks and have appeared
regularly in Apple since our Fall 2012
issue on brain development, are used
to quickly and more easily convey
complex concepts. For example, brain
architecture is like the construction
of a home—building begins with
the foundation and continues with
framing, wiring, plumbing and so on.
A case in point: the core
story of the brain
• Brains are both born and built over
time based on our experiences
• Our experiences in the first years of
life affect the physical architecture
of the brain
• Children’s brain architecture needs
positive relationships with parents
and other adults for lifelong good
mental function and health
The stronger a child’s foundation in the
early years, the greater the chance of
health in later years.
In 2007, the Harvard Center released
its core story about the brain and
early childhood development. Shortly
after, the Alberta Family Wellness
Initiative (AFWI) made it a mission
to tell Albertans the core story of the
brain. And like the Harvard Center,
the AFWI hopes to have people better
understand what the story means to
them and see the story used to shape
public policy.
This sounds deceptively simple,
when it’s really been a massive
undertaking, involving the blending
of neuroscience and communications
science and recruiting champions
from philanthropy, health care, health
research, social services, the legal
and justice systems and community
organizations. No other province and
only a handful of U.S. states have
tried to create such a critical mass of
understanding about the brain.
To use another metaphor, the core
story of the brain is having a ripple
effect in our province—moving in
waves to more and more people and
communities. Last fall more than 20
“innovation teams” attending a fiveday long AFWI symposium pledged to
take the core story of the brain to their
various professions and communities.
The core story has also rippled into
public policy. Education Alberta’s
Early Child Development Mapping
Project (ECMap) is looking at the
factors affecting healthy early
childhood development (see page
20). The Alberta Approach to Early
Childhood Development is a provincial
government initiative to give all
children the opportunity to reach their
full potential.
The ripple effect of the core story
will move through the province for
many years, giving generations of
Albertans the opportunity to turn
science and innovation into part of our
everyday lives.
— Terry Bullick
• Serve and return interactions are
the building blocks of solid brain
architecture. Just as in a game of
volleyball or tennis, a child “serves”
with a touch, look, gesture or
sound and an adult “returns” with a
response
• S tress also affects brain
development. Some stress is healthy
and helps us learn how to cope. But
toxic stress (chronic, unrelenting
and unpredictable) can be harmful,
especially to children
• T he brain needs solid architecture
for air traffic control, or executive
function. Just as air traffic control
allows many planes to use an airport
without colliding, executive function
gives us the ability to focus, plan and
remember in diverse situations
• K ids need adults and communities to
build solid brain architecture.
applemag.ca 17
Great expectations
Study looks at
women’s weight
gain during
pregnancy
Photo: Alloy Photography
Researchers strive to find ways to support
expecting moms
Healthy weight gain in pregnancy helps moms and babies avoid a
variety of health risks.
Pregnancy is a time to nourish
yourself and your growing baby—but
research shows that gaining too much
weight can be unhealthy for both of
you.
The Promoting Appropriate
Maternal Body Weight in Pregnancy
and Postpartum through Healthy
Dietary Intake study will look at
how women in Alberta eat during
pregnancy and how health-care
providers can support healthy eating
and appropriate weight gain.
The study will receive up to
$2.5 million from the Alberta
Innovates – Health Solutions’
Collaborative Research and Innovative
Opportunities program grant.
Leading the study are Rhonda Bell,
professor of human nutrition at the
University of Alberta, Linda McCargar,
a registered dietitian and professor
of human nutrition at the U of A, and
Paula Robson, adjunct professor at the
U of A and a research scientist with
Alberta Health Services.
“Pregnancy is a significant risk
factor for extra weight gain,” Bell says.
“Women can gain too much weight
during pregnancy and keep that
weight after the baby is born.”
About half of all pregnant women in
the country gain more weight than is
Great expectations
recommended by Health Canada.
Extra weight during pregnancy
can increase a woman’s risk of
developing diabetes during pregnancy,
hypertension and cardiovascular
disease later in life. It can also increase
discomfort, seriously complicate labour
and make it more difficult to lose
weight after giving birth.
In babies, extra weight can impair
brain development and increase the
risk of weight gain and obesity later in
life.
Unhealthy weight gain in pregnancy
has a number of causes, from giving
into cravings to a culture that
encourages pregnant women to eat.
Health Canada’s weight-gain guidelines
Healthy weight gain during pregnancy depends, to some extent, on your weight before pregnancy.
Pre-pregnancy category*
Underweight
Normal weight
Overweight
Obese
Recommended Range of total weight gain
lbkg
28-4012.5-18
25-35 11.5-16
15-25 7-11.5
11-205-9
*Pre-pregnancy categories are based on Body Mass Index (BMI) scale.
Eating healthy
About half of all pregnant
women in Canada gain more
weight than is recommended
“Women can feel pressure to eat,”
says Bell. “The foods that are offered,
or eaten during a craving, can be
unhealthy foods that are low in
nutrients and contain extra calories,
particularly in the form of sugar and
fat. We recommend that women eat
foods that are in Canada’s Food Guide,
and meet their calorie needs.”
Pregnant women can avoid gaining
too much weight with any number of
activities, such as regular walking,
modified yoga and even reading.
“It’s good for pregnant women
to exercise without overexerting
themselves,” Bell says. “What’s
most important is to adopt healthy
behaviours during pregnancy that can
support you, your baby and healthy
weight gain.”
— Jacqueline Louie with files from
Amy Sawchenko
For more about pregnancy and healthy
weight, search for these topics at
applemag.ca.
Eating a nutritious and balanced diet,
among other things, can be one way to
maintain a healthy weight throughout
life, including during pregnancy. Health
Canada recommends women aged 19 to
50 eat eight to 10 servings of fruit and
vegetables, eight servings of grains and
two servings each of milk and alternatives
and meat and alternatives a day.
Canada’s Food Guide says pregnant
women may need to eat an extra two to
three servings a day of foods including:
• Fruit such as apples, bananas
• Vegetables such as carrots and celery
• Hard boiled eggs
• A lmonds and other nuts
• Yogurt
• Milk.
What does a serving size look like?
• 1 cup (250 ml) dark, leafy greens is a serving of vegetables
• 1/2 cup (125 ml) pure orange juice equals one serving of fruit
• 1.6 oz (45 g) bagel or 1/2 cup (125 ml) pasta equals one serving of grain products
• 1 cup (250 ml) milk or fortified soy or 1.8 oz (50 g) of cheese equals one serving of milk and
alternatives
• 2.6 oz. (75 g) of lean meat, poultry or fish (about the size of a deck of cards) equals one
serving of meat and alternatives.
For more healthy eating tips, talk with a dietitian or visit albertahealthservices.ca
and search for healthy eating starts here.
applemag.ca 19
The early years
Findings prompt community action
Photo: Image Source Photography
Alberta coalitions work to support strong childhood development
The ECMap project is helping communities support positive early childhood development.
More than 100 community
coalitions across Alberta are using
results from a recent provincial project
working to support early childhood
development.
The Early Child Development
Mapping Project (ECMap) found
that while most children entering
kindergarten in Alberta are developing
well, nearly 27 per cent struggle
in at least one of five key areas of
development. For example, children
may have trouble getting along with
others (social development), holding
a pencil (physical development),
counting to 20 (language development),
controlling their impulses (emotional
development) or telling a story
(communication). Funded by Alberta
Education and led by the University
of Alberta’s Community-University
Partnership, ECMap gathered
insights by studying about 87,000
kindergarten children across the
province.
ECMap fills a crucial gap in
understanding how well Alberta
preschoolers are faring, says project
director Susan Lynch. “Being happy,
healthy, safe, cared for and loved in
those early years is critical to lifelong
success.”
Strong early childhood development
can, among other things, reduce the
risk of addiction, unemployment,
crime, obesity and diabetes later in life.
The fact that so many kindergarten
children struggle is a call to action that
extends far beyond immediate families,
Lynch adds. “Parents need to know
that they have support from all of us in
the community.”
Using ECMap results, community
coalitions are taking a fresh look at
their communities. Besides finding
existing support for families with
preschoolers—from play groups to
seniors seeking young companions—
they are beginning to fill gaps. In
Fort McMurray, where about 100
babies are born a month, coalition
members sounded the alert that parks
were designed for older children,
prompting preschool-friendly
additions. Edmonton coalitions posed
questions about early childhood needs
to candidates in the 2013 municipal
election and posted the results
electronically. The Innisfail Family
Centre now offers a free program for
parents to learn and play with their
children.
Kathy Karchuk of the Fort Macleod
coalition says her community
“understands that if we support
children in the early years, we offset
potential difficulties later on, and that
early intervention is far more effective
than remediation later on.”
Kim Williston of the Beaumont
coalition found the ECMap project
created awareness of the current
resources in the community and “the
value of early childhood development
and how that prepares our children for
school.”
Project advances are hopeful and
important steps, Lynch says. “We keep
expecting parents to do it all on their
own, but it takes a whole community
to raise a child.”
The independent ECMap early
childhood coalitions are made up of a
wide cross-section of the community,
including parents, grandparents and
other family members, educators,
non-profit organizations, community
organizations, health-care providers,
policy-makers, business leaders, and
representatives of ethnic and cultural
groups.
“We’ve broadened the conversation
and started people thinking about
what the community as a whole can
do to support positive development,”
notes ECMap manager Line Perron,
who helps support the coalitions.
“That’s probably one of the biggest
legacies our project will leave
behind.”
— Cheryl Mahaffy with files from Yolanda Genu
Visit ecmap.ca to learn more about
ECMap results, resources and
community coalitions.
Early childhood
development can be
affected by many factors,
including:
• Relationships with parents and other
adults
• Family income and employment
• Housing
• C ommunity amenities such as
playgrounds, schools, libraries,
parks and recreation programs
• Child care.
applemag.ca 21
Photo: Viacheslav Votchitsev
Youthful
An AHS study shows smoking shisha is akin to breathing smoke from a forest fire for 45 minutes.
The hoopla over the hookah
Researchers find good reason to ban public use of shisha
Inhaling tobacco-like products
from a hookah, or water pipe, is as
damaging as standing downwind from
a raging forest fire and breathing the
smoke. In short, smoking flavoured
herbal products, or shisha, is bad for
you.
Just because products are labelled
herbal doesn’t mean they’re safe.
“There is also the perception that
because people bubble the smoke
through water that some of the toxic
materials normally associated with
smoking tobacco are removed during
this process,” says Dr. Barry Finegan,
AHS anesthetist and professor at the
University of Alberta’s Faculty of
Medicine and Dentistry.
In fact, the bubbling water doesn’t
do anything to remove heavy metals
such as chromium, nickel and even
arsenic, that Finegan and his research
team found in different herbal shisha
available in Alberta.
“We found potentially dangerous
material in the basic product and
when the product was smoked. We
found that both the smoke that people
inhale and the smoke that comes off
the end of the device contained exactly
the same, if not more, cancer-causing
chemicals as tobacco.”
People who use shisha inhale an
average of 50 litres of smoke at each
session—akin to breathing in that
forest fire for 45 minutes. Over time,
that will lead to “very significant”
pulmonary and cardiac damage, as
well as increase the risk of cancer.
Using a hookah can be addictive
and lead to smoking tobacco or
encouraging former smokers to light
up again. Even just being in a hookah
bar is bad for your health. Finegan’s
study also looked at the level of
microparticles floating around in the
air—tiny particles that bypass the
lung’s defence systems.
The Alberta government also cited
Finegan’s study last fall as it passed
legislation to ban hookahs in public
places such as bars and restaurants
over the next year.
“I think there is a sort of
nonchalance about shisha because of
the flavour and because it’s easy to do
and because it appears harmless,” says
Finegan. “But inhaling any smoke into
your lungs is not a benign thing to
do.”
— Jennifer Allford
applemag.ca 23
Photo: Alexrath
50+
A new project will try to understand why older Albertans have little involvement in health research.
The growing gap between
seniors and research
Aging baby boomers are all but missing from studies and clincial trials
Seniors are the fastest growing
age group in the country, thanks to the
post-war babies who began turning 65
years old in 2011. By 2031, one in five
Albertans is expected to be a senior.
As a strong social and economic
force, baby boomers (those born
between 1946 and 1964) Canada’s
largest population group, have
changed how we age (remember 40 is
the new 30?). Yet as seniors they are all
but missing from clinical research.
“Compared to other age groups, few
seniors are at the research table, and as
the number of seniors grows, the gap
of not being researched sufficiently
will grow,” says Suzanne Vorvis,
director of Provincial Research and
Privacy Initiatives at Alberta Health
Services.
Most clinical trials in Alberta and
around the world focus on younger
adults (24 to 45) and children, with
the findings generalized to people
over 65, says Rosmin Esmail, director
of Knowledge Translation, Research
Innovation and Analytics at AHS.
But drugs given to younger people
may work differently in seniors, adds
Esmail. They may also have other side
effects or reactions in older people who
have multiple conditions or are taking
other drugs.
More than 90 per cent of older
adults in Alberta have at least one
chronic health condition and onethird have four or more chronic
conditions such as arthritis, high blood
pressure, diabetes, heart disease and
Alzheimer’s disease.
Vorvis says seniors, as a whole, use
more health services than the other
age groups and that more studies are
needed about people 55 and over.
But making seniors part of studies is
50+
hard. Vorvis and Rachel Syme of the
University of Calgary are co-leading
a study to find out why more seniors
aren’t in clinical research and how
better to recruit them.
The AHS-supported study, called
Retiring Minds Want to Know:
Understanding Seniors Knowledge
About Research, is funded by Alberta
Innovates – Health Solutions (AIHS).
The project includes surveying up
to 150 seniors at the Kerby Centre in
Calgary and the Seniors Association
of Greater Edmonton (SAGE). Project
findings will be followed up by focus
groups.
By better understanding why
many older adults are not involved
in research “we can do a better job of
inviting them to take part and letting
them know the important role they
could play in that research,” says
Heather Hanson, a PhD researcher and
AHS’s assistant scientific director for
the Seniors Health Strategic Clinical
Network.
Seniors can add to the
knowledge and understanding
of advances in health and
medicine
She says many factors could
influence older adults’ participation
in research: “It could be they suspect
researchers, they don’t know how
the research will be used, or whether
family or other health professionals
may use seniors’ health information in
a negative way.”
Hanson stresses: “We are very
careful about how we collect and
protect information, and we keep
research participants’ best interests at
the forefront of our
minds.” As well, health research
funded by AHS and AIHS complies
with privacy rules set out by the
province’s Health Information Act.
Esmail wants seniors to be involved
in research. “They can add to the
knowledge and understanding of how
new advances in health and medicine
work in people their age,” Esmail says.
“And having seniors involved helps
researchers get what they need to
develop the right treatments for
them.”
— Dawna Freeman
For more information about the Retiring
Minds Want to Know research project,
contact Rosmin Esmail at 403-944-4865
or Suzanne Vorvis at 403-239-6065.
Experience the new digital Apple
You can now flip, search and discover Apple with our new digital version.
Find us on the Apple Newsstand, Google Play and Amazon app stores.
We’re also free at applemag.ca
applemag.ca 25
Keep in mind
Families can pay the price
When Mount Royal University
professor Christine Giancarlo, a PhD
in human services, began to study the
phenomenon of parents alienated from
their children, she had no difficulty
finding research subjects.
Parental alienation is when one
parent deliberately poisons a child’s
relationship with the other parent. It’s
a frequent and unfortunate result of
high-conflict divorces and separations.
“I included 28 alienated parents in
the study but I easily could have had
5,000,” Giancarlo says. “This is a huge
issue and it has terrible consequences,
both for parents and children.”
Children who are turned against
a parent can experience toxic stress,
which can lead to poor self-esteem,
anxiety and depression, anti-social
behaviour and a number of other
concerns.
For example, as adults they can
abuse substances, have trouble forming
secure, intimate relationships and be
Illustration: Ocean Illustration
When high conflict
enters divorce
In divorce and separation, parents need to rise above their broken
relationship and commit to their children’s well-being.
low achievers. They are also more likely
to divorce and separate and become
alienated from their own children.
“To grow up and be emotionally
well, children need loving, supportive
relationships with both parents—even
when they’ve separated,” Giancarlo
says.
Alienated parents also face problems.
Giancarlo’s study specifically looked at
what happened when alienated parents
used the courts to gain access to their
children.
“One of the saddest findings was
that most participants said they lost
their homes or had been bankrupted
because of the legal costs they incurred.
They turned to the justice system as
a last resort and said it failed them
miserably,” she says.
Parental alienation appears to be on
the rise, Giancarlo says. One estimate
says 13 per cent of all divorces are highconflict, with the children caught in the
middle.
But divorce and separation needn’t
be so financially and emotionally
costly or turn into a court battle. One
alternative is collaborative practice,
which focuses on helping couples and
families “restructure” by encouraging
mutual respect, emphasizing the needs
of children and adopting a problemsolving approach.
Ultimately, prevention is the best
strategy. “The key is for parents to rise
above their broken relationship and
commit to their children’s well-being
by cooperating as parents,” Giancarlo
says.
— Greg Harris
For more information about avoiding
conflict during divorce, see
Co-parenting Through Divorce in the
Winter 2013 issue of Apple.
For more information on collaborative
practice, visit collaborativepractice.ca.
Photos: Shallon Cunningham, Salt Food Photography
Meal deal
Almost spring
A meal that mixes fresh flavour with hearty comfort
Spring brings the promise of longer days and budding blooms, but it can
also deliver knee-deep snowfalls and a frosty reminder that winter in Alberta can
stretch well into May.
Dinner can be a time to serve both fresh, flavourful produce and hearty comfort
food.
Variety is the key to cooking; most fresh produce can be simmered into soup,
tossed into a salad or added to rich desserts. Chowder is a thick, versatile soup
that can include vegetables, potatoes, meats and seafood. Traditionally made with
cream, chowder can be made with milk or an alternative such as lactose-free milk.
You can also use up aging produce that’s starting to go limp or wrinkly. And
salads can become satisfying and filling by adding toasted nuts or warm
dressings.
— Julie Van Rosendaal
applemag.ca 27
Meal deal
1 Winter’s end chowder
Almost any vegetable that inspires
you can be transformed into hearty
chowder.
Ingredients
• Canola or olive oil, for cooking
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
1
• 2 stalks celery, chopped (include
the leaves)
• 1 large carrot, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and
diced
• 2 Tbsp. (30 ml) flour
• 4 cups (1 l) low-sodium chicken
or vegetable stock
• 2-3 thin-skinned potatoes,
washed and diced
• 1 cup (250 ml) corn kernels
• 2 tsp. (10 ml) fresh thyme leaves
• 1 cup (250 ml) milk or ½ cup
(125 ml) half & half (or to taste)
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) chopped fresh
Italian parsley
Preparation
In a medium pot, heat oil over
medium-high heat. Add the onion
and cook for 3 to 4 minutes until
soft.
Add the celery, carrot and red
pepper and cook for 3 to 4 minutes.
Shake in the flour and stir to coat
the vegetables. Add the stock,
potatoes, corn and thyme, and bring
to a simmer. Reduce the heat and
cook until the potatoes are tender.
Add the milk and cook just until
heated through. Serve hot with
chopped fresh parsley.
2
Serves 6.
The lowdown
Analyzed using 1% milk. Per serving
(1/6 of recipe): 150 calories,
3.5 g total fat (1 g saturated fat,
0 g trans fat), 5 mg cholesterol,
140 mg sodium, 27 g carbohydrate,
8 g protein, 3 g fibre, 7 g sugars.
Our Meal Deal recipes have been analyzed by registered dietitians with AHS Nutrition Services.
All recipes meet healthy eating guidelines. For past recipes, visit applemag.ca.
Meal deal
2 Savoury spinach
salad with warm
vinaigrette
Spinach and baby kale are hearty
enough to hold up to warm
dressing—a little wilting just adds
to their appeal.
Crêpes, a traditional thin French
pancake, are perfect for fresh or
frozen fruit.
Ingredients
• 1-1/4 cups (310 ml) milk
• 2 large eggs
Ingredients
• 1 Tbsp. (15 ml) canola oil
• 4 slices prosciutto
• 1/2 cup (125 ml) all-purpose flour
• 1 bag or bunch fresh baby
spinach or baby kale
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) barley flour (or
equal amount all-purpose flour)
• 2 oz. (60 g) goat cheese,
crumbled
• Pinch salt
• 1/3 cup (85 ml) dried cranberries
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) pine nuts
Dressing:
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) extra-virgin olive
or canola oil (or 2 Tbsp. oil and
2 Tbsp. water)
• 3 Tbsp. (45 ml) balsamic vinegar
• 2 tsp. (10 ml) grainy mustard
• 1/2 tsp. (2 ml) honey
Preparation
Cook the prosciutto in a skillet over
medium-high heat until crisp and
set aside. In a clean skillet, toast the
pine nuts until golden.
3
3 Barley crêpes
To make the dressing, add the oil,
vinegar, mustard and honey to
the skillet and bring to a simmer,
whisking to loosen any crispy bits of
prosciutto on the bottom of the pan.
Arrange greens, prosciutto, goat
cheese, cranberries and pine nuts
on plates and drizzle with warm
dressing. Serve immediately.
• Fruit filling, such as fresh, frozen
(thaw before serving) or canned
berries, peaches, pineapple,
mango or melons
• Cocoa, for dusting
Preparation
Combine the crepe ingredients in a
bowl and whisk until well blended
and smooth. Let the batter sit
for half an hour—until it has the
consistency of heavy cream.
To cook, set a medium skillet over
medium-high heat and brush with
butter or oil. Pour about a 1/4 cup
(60 ml) of batter onto the skillet
and quickly tilt it in a clockwise
motion so the batter evenly coats
the pan. Cook for 1 or 2 minutes,
until the top loses its gloss, flip and
cook for a minute on the other side
until golden. Keep warm in a 250˚F
(120˚C) oven while you cook the rest
of the batter.
Fill with fruit, roll crêpe closed and
dust with cocoa powder before
serving.
Serves 8.
Serves 4 to 6.
The lowdown
The lowdown
Analyzed using baby spinach and
1/4 cup (60 ml) oil. Per serving
(1/8 of recipe): 170 calories, 12 g
total fat (2.5 g saturated fat, 0 g
trans fat), 10 mg cholesterol, 300
mg sodium, 11 g carbohydrate, 5 g
protein, 2 g fibre, 5 g sugars.
Analyzed using 1% milk and fresh
strawberries. Per serving (1/6
recipe): 140 calories, 4.5 g total fat
(1 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat),
75 mg cholesterol, 200 mg sodium,
18 g carbohydrate, 6 g protein,
2 g fibre, 4 g sugar.
applemag.ca 29
Body talk
Extra weight can lead to
being extra tired
Photo: DRB Images
People with sleep apnea can stop breathing hundreds of times a night
Caused by a narrowing of the pharnyx, sleep apnea can result in a number of health concerns,
including day-time tiredness, unhealthy eating and depression.
Most people know that carrying
extra weight can lead to diabetes or
aching joints. Fewer know that excess
weight can also lead to sleep apnea, a
disorder in which you stop breathing
up to hundreds of times every night
while sleeping.
“When you hear about obesity,
people talk about diabetes and
hypertension and joints and what it’s
doing to your knees and your hips,
but nobody ever says ‘sleep apnea,’”
says John Remmers. He’s one of the
world’s leading researchers in sleep
apnea and was the first to show it’s
caused by an anatomical narrowing
of the pharynx. His Remmers Sleep
Recorder is the first portable tool
for diagnosing the condition.
“The life-threatening disease
that these people are subject to is
not problems with their hips, not
diabetes—it’s sleep apnea,” he says.
Almost all Canadian adults who have
obstructive sleep apnea—nearly 90 per
cent—are overweight or obese.
Remmers, an Alberta Innovates
– Health Solutions researcher, a
professor at the University of Calgary
and the chief medical officer of Zephyr
Sleep Technologies, has worked in
Alberta for decades.
Research shows excess weight can
cause a person to stop breathing while
they sleep in three ways:
• Fat can be deposited in the back of
the throat and in the tongue
• Fat under the chin and over the
neck pushes back on the pharynx
when people lie on their backs
• Excess fat on the abdomen and
chest creates “tracheal tug.”
Body talk
“All three are very feasible,”
Remmers says. “We don’t know
which one is more important in which
situation.”
MyHealthAlberta.com lists the
main symptoms of sleep apnea in
adults as not feeling rested after a
night’s sleep, feeling sleepy during
the day and waking up with a
headache.
Your bedmate may notice that when
you sleep you stop breathing; snore
often and loudly; gasp and choke; and
toss and turn.
Sleep apnea can lead to many
problems linked to poor sleep,
including unhealthy eating habits
the next day because the body
craves sugar, which can lead to
more weight gain.
“Sleep apnea can also cause
depression. If you’re depressed, you
might eat more and lack energy, so
you’re not going to be as active or move
around as much,” he says.
Symptoms of sleep apnea in
adults include not feeling rested
after a night’s sleep, feeling
sleepy during the day and
waking up with a headache
While it’s a serious condition and
needs to be addressed, treating sleep
apnea doesn’t necessarily help people
lose weight. “It doesn’t work that way,”
says Remmers. “Most of the time they
don’t lose weight.”
Instead, he suggests treating
the two health conditions separately,
beginning with the sleep apnea.
“You get people feeling good,
improving their quality of life, while
keeping their oxygen normal during
sleep. Always start there and
then later start to talk about weight
loss.”
— Jennifer Allford
If you are overweight or obese and have
any symptoms of sleep apnea, ask your
health-care professional for advice.
See this story at applemag.ca for
links to John Remmers’ research with
Alberta Innovates – Health Solutions.
applemag.ca 31
Hotbed of
health-care
innovation
From heart attacks to arthritis, genetics to food science, researchers in Alberta are discovering new treatments and developing
new technologies to improve the health of Albertans and people around the world. Connie Bryson looks at 25 groundbreaking
innovations developed in our province
One of Canada’s most
popular over-the-counter
cold and flu medicines was
developed in Alberta
See #7 for details
3
Cardiac database is treasure trove
of information
Workhorse of the Human
Genome Project
Not only is Dr. Merrill Knudtson a pioneer in life-saving
cardiology procedures, but he also launched a database to
capture detailed information on every cardiac procedure
performed in Alberta and track those patients over time.
His brainchild, the Alberta Provincial Project for Outcome
Assessment in Coronary Heart Disease (APPROACH), is
now one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive
cardiac registries. It’s used to reveal important insights into
outcomes and costs, and show the way to better
patient care.
A tool developed at the University of Alberta in the
1990s became the workhorse of the Human Genome
Project—an international research effort to map all of our
genes, which paved the way for new understanding of
genetic factors in disease. Developed by analytical chemists
Drs. Norman Dovichi and Jianzhong Zhang, the instrument
analyzed DNA 10 times faster than earlier technology.
A better way to fix hip
and knee problems
With his invention of the Acticoat™ technology,
Dr. Robert Burrell revolutionized wound care and helped
save the lives and limbs of thousands of patients around
the world. Working as a biomedical engineer at Alberta’s
Westaim Technologies Inc., Burrell developed tiny silver
nanocrystals that kill microbes and stop inflammation.
Acticoat™ dressings are used worldwide to prevent lifethreatening infections and promote healing in burns,
ulcers and other wounds.
2
1
Orthopedic surgeons may not feel their patients’ physical
pain, but they often share their frustration with long wait
times and varying care. That feeling led them to look
into the reasons for long wait times for joint replacement
surgery—a life-changing treatment for severe osteoarthritis
in the hip and knee. Their work led to wide-ranging
changes in the care of patients needing this surgery. The
result? Higher quality and improved access. The impact
goes beyond provincial borders; their work helped spark
the creation of the Canada-wide Hip and Knee Knowledge
Translation Network.
Life-saving wound dressing
pioneered in Alberta
4
applemag.ca 33
7
Discovery changed rules
for infant heart transplants
A traditional ingredient becomes
a popular cold medicine
Heart transplants in babies are different from those in
adults, thanks to research by cardiologist Dr. Lori West. She
discovered that infants can receive a heart from a donor
with an incompatible blood type; in adults, donor and
recipient blood types must match. Because infant immune
systems can adapt to a mismatched donor, this widens the
pool of potential organs and decreases wait times. West’s
discovery has changed pediatric heart transplants globally.
One of Canada’s most popular over-the-counter cold and
flu medicines was developed in Alberta. Cold-FX® came
out of research at the University of Alberta on the active
ingredients in traditional herbal medicine. It’s derived
from the roots of the ginseng plant, one of the most valued
medicinal plants in the world.
Telehealth makes health-care access easier
The first oral medicine to treat chronic hepatitis B infection
was developed by Dr. Lorne Tyrrell at the University of
Alberta. Lamivudine is a groundbreaking drug for patients
with this chronic viral infection—about 300 to 350 million
people worldwide. These people cannot clear the virus from
their body; they are at high risk of serious liver damage, as
well as death from cirrhosis of the liver and liver cancer.
Lamivudine stops the virus from replicating, which
minimizes liver damage.
5
6
Alberta has one of the largest and best integrated
telehealth networks in North America, with more than
900 videoconferencing sites. Telehealth makes it easier for
Albertans to use a wide range of specialized health services
such as psychiatric care without leaving their hometown.
They don’t have to take days off work to travel and they can
remain close to family and friends.
8
Groundbreaking drug for hepatitis B
13
A good night’s sleep
Website cuts through social assistance maze
Sleep apnea is a life-threatening condition that interrupts
breathing during sleep. The University of Calgary’s
Dr. John Remmers was the first to demonstrate that the
condition is due to a narrowing of part of the throat. He
developed a device to keep the airway open during sleep:
the CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) device. The
CPAP essentially eliminates sleep apnea and dramatically
improves sleep quality. See Extra Weight Can Lead to Being
Extra Tired on page 30.
It can be tough to navigate Alberta’s wide range
of social benefits and services and figure out whether you or
your family are eligible. My Alberta Supports is a website with
an easy-to-use needs identification and eligibility estimator.
No personal identifying information is needed. After
answering a few multiple choice questions, you’re provided
with a list of programs and services that may be right for you.
Links to online applications will be available later this year.
Find the estimator at AlbertaSupports.ca.
Cardiac surgery pioneer
Breakthrough in colon cancer screening
The bio of the late Dr. John Callaghan contains a series
of firsts including: co-developer of the world’s first
cardiac pacemaker, Canada’s first open-heart surgery and
Canada’s first successful complete repair of the blue baby
malformation. The last two landmarks were performed by the
multi-talented cardiac surgeon at the University of Alberta
Hospital. The open-heart surgery required a heart-lung pump
that Callaghan built himself. His operations saved many lives
and his pioneering innovations continue to save lives around
the world.
Every year, about 1,200 Albertans are diagnosed with colon
cancer and about 600 die from it. These grim statistics drove
Edmonton physicians Drs. Richard Fedorak and Haili Wang
to search for better ways to screen for colon cancer. Their
team focused on detecting non-cancerous growths in the
colon called polyps. If left to grow, polyps can turn cancerous.
The new technology can detect the chemical “fingerprints” of
these growths in urine. “We have an easy, non-invasive test,”
says Fedorak. “All you need is a urine sample.” The science
behind this is a tongue-twister—metabolomics—and Alberta
scientists are world leaders in the field. Now, Alberta-based
Metabolomic Technologies Inc. is commercializing the test,
with a clinical trial complete in Alberta and one underway
in China.
10
9
Combating doctor shortages
with innovative physician training
11
Medical schools in Calgary and Edmonton are addressing
the province’s chronic shortage of rural physicians with a
long-term approach focused on education and training. One
of their innovations is the Rural Integrated Community
Clerkship Program, which gives third-year medical students
at both universities an immersion-type experience in rural
practice. Students are placed in an Alberta rural community
for about 36 weeks where they learn in an integrated fashion
by following their patients from the clinic to consults,
surgery, delivery and other specialities.
12
‘Smarter’ roads are safer roads
The AMA Foundation for Traffic Safety reports, on average,
that Alberta has one traffic fatality every day, one collision
every five minutes and a serious injury from a collision
every 20 minutes. Researchers at the University of Calgary’s
Schulich School of Engineering are using a state-of-the-art
laboratory to increase road safety and ease congestion. The
researchers are paving the way for smarter roads in Alberta
with ramp meters, variable speed limits and advanced
warning systems.
14
New test for rheumatoid arthritis
15
A new test for rheumatoid arthritis—the first in more than
two decades—is now available from Quest Diagnostics, the
world’s leading provider of diagnostic services. The test is
based on 10 years of research by Drs. Walter Maksymowych
and Aziz Ghahary at the University of Alberta. They
discovered a protein that floods into the joints of people
with rheumatoid arthritis and causes an explosion of
inflammatory activity that damages joint tissue. Testing for
the protein not only detects rheumatoid arthritis, but also
predicts the severity of the disease. “We have many treatment
options for rheumatoid arthritis, but it’s important to start
them early, especially for the very destructive forms,” says
Maksymowych.
applemag.ca 35
18
Getting a handle on a quiet epidemic
Team players in Taber make a difference
Chronic diseases—diabetes, kidney disease, high blood
pressure and vascular disease—have been called a “quiet
epidemic.” They are on the rise as our population ages.
Alberta’s Interdisciplinary Chronic Disease Collaboration is
investigating the root causes of chronic disease in order to
improve the health of patients living with or at risk of chronic
disease. Established in 2010, the team has developed into
a model of collaboration and knowledge transfer and their
research has helped improve patient outcomes.
Motivated by a desire to significantly improve his own
practice, a family doctor from Taber has helped transform
primary care across the country. In the 1990s, Dr. Rob Wedel
began to search for ways to reorganize the Taber Clinic to
achieve better quality care, better access and better patient
and provider satisfaction. The local clinic became a onestop experience for patients with care provided by a team
of health-care professionals. Besides having a major impact
on health in the local community, the team-based approach
to primary care pioneered in Taber is serving as a model for
similar clinics in Alberta and across Canada.
16
Robotics makes brain surgery
more accurate, less invasive
17
Calgary neurosurgeon Dr. Garnette Sutherland has spent
his career breaking new ground in neurosurgery. His first
“world first” was a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
system for operating rooms. It provides surgeons with 3-D
images during an operation. He followed that with another
milestone: the neuroArm, the world’s first MRI-compatible
surgical robot for both microsurgery and image-guided
biopsy. Surgeons control the neuroArm from a workstation,
guiding its movements via images on a screen. Because it
can move in smaller increments than the human hand,
neuroArm is the ideal tool for performing delicate surgery
inside the brain.
19
Heart attack care in Calgary gets top marks
If you’re having a heart attack, your best bet for the best
treatment is: get to the hospital within one hour, and go to a
hospital equipped with the technology to open blocked blood
vessels. Those two factors combine in Calgary and as a result
the city has the lowest heart attack death rate in Canada.
Calgarians have access to the Foothills Medical Centre, which
offers the blood-vessel-opening procedure 24/7.
20 24
Assessing the toll of high blood pressure
Healthier futures for Alberta children
It’s well-known that high blood pressure isn’t good for you,
but Alberta researchers have been able to pinpoint who is
at the greatest risk. A team from the University of Calgary
tracked 3.5 million Canadians with high blood pressure for
up to 12 years. They found that men, seniors and people
living in low-income or rural areas generally have poorer
health outcomes. New programs are being designed to help
these groups.
A landmark project in Alberta schools is changing
behaviours around food and activity to combat obesity and
diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. APPLE Schools
is the brainchild of the University of Alberta’s Dr. Paul
Veugelers. “Overeating and inactivity are driving obesity
rates and chronic diseases later in life,” he says. “The longterm solution is to prevent obesity by changing behaviour. I
thought: What better place to start than with children?” The
APPLE Schools approach involves a broad range of healthy
eating and active living initiatives among students, supported
by the entire school community. Started in 2008, APPLE
Schools has had proven success in improving children’s
health in Alberta. The project now reaches more than 20,000
children in 47 Alberta schools.
Every second counts in a heart attack
21
Research at the University of Alberta and the University
of Alberta Hospital revolutionized treatment for heart
attack patients in Alberta and around the world. The
research team trained paramedics to do electrocardiograms
in ambulances and then send the results to a cardiologist,
allowing treatment to begin even before arrival at the
emergency room. This innovative approach shortens
treatment time by about one hour and spares some
patients permanent damage to their heart.
22
Heart rhythm specialist
helps hearts keep a steady beat
Cardiologist Dr. Anne Gillis is an international leader in
the use of devices like pacemakers to treat heart rhythm
disorders. Under her leadership, Calgary’s Cardiac
Arrhythmia Service became the first centre outside the U.S.
to evaluate remote monitoring of patients with implantable
defibrillators. Her research has led to refinements in
pacemakers and implantable defibrillators, improving the
quality of life for countless heart patients.
Lab in a box
25
An Alberta company is turning the notion of a lab test on its
head. Instead of a lab that requires floor space and equipment,
Aquila Diagnostics Systems Inc. has developed a device the
size of a toaster that can do all kinds of molecular tests—
determine whether a patient is resistant to cancer drugs,
identify a strain of malaria, pinpoint infectious disease in a
herd of cattle, and more. The science behind the technology
comes from the work of University of Alberta cancer
researcher Dr. Linda Pilarski. The device has the potential to
replace millions of dollars of equipment in a conventional lab
with something that is much less expensive and can be used
anywhere.
Bacteria-fighting food innovation
In 2008, deli meats contaminated with the Listeria bacteria
led to 22 deaths in Canada. Thanks to research by three
University of Alberta scientists—Drs. Lynn McMullen,
Michael Stiles and John Vederas—there’s a life-saving food
additive that kills this deadly bacteria without any chemicals.
Their Micocin® technology is now used by food-packaging
companies to ensure the safety of food products.
23
applemag.ca 37
Why we
research
Whatever your health, it’s sure to have benefited from
research in our province. Almost every aspect of the healthcare system is and needs to be evidence-based or informed by
good, solid research.
As Caitlin Crawshaw writes, such research is central to the
quality, innovative health care Albertans want
Alberta has contributed to research
at both national and international levels
a fascinating look behind the curtain,
she says. “So many things happen
behind the scenes … but I knew how
many hours he had spent working on
this in the basement of the hospital.”
Those with good health may never
get such an up-close-and-personal
experience with research. However,
every Albertan—even the healthiest
among us—has benefited from health
research, says Dr. Kathryn Todd,
the vice president of Research,
Innovation and Analytics for Alberta
Health Services.
Almost every aspect of the healthcare system is and needs to be what
she calls evidence based or informed
by good, solid research. If you’ve had
a childhood vaccine, taken antibiotics
for strep throat, met with a diabetes
nurse educator, received nutrition
advice from a registered dietitian, or
had an ultrasound during pregnancy,
you’ve experienced health research in
action. “I believe if you want to have
high-quality, innovative patient care,
everything you do must be evidenceinformed,” Todd says.
Searching for answers
close to home
Photo: Grant Black
A few years ago, Sandra Smith had a
stubborn lung infection that left her
bedridden at the Foothills Medical
Centre in Calgary. Because she has
cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease that
attacks the lungs and digestive system,
she had plenty of lung infections
before, but this time, her medical team
wasn’t able to clear it up with the usual
therapies. And because lung infections
can cause permanent tissue damage in
people with her condition, the situation
was dire.
But by a stroke of luck, a graduate
student at the hospital had been
studying a rare bacterium that can
hide in the lungs. “It turned out that
I was one of the few people who had
it,” says Smith. Soon, she was put on
the right antibiotics and the infection
went away.
As Smith recovered in hospital,
the researcher even visited Smith to
teach her about the bacterium. It was
Sandra Smith’s serious lung infection was cured thanks to Alberta-based research.
A good part of the research that
benefits patients was started in
Alberta’s academic institutions and
produced by university researchers
(often with partners such as AHS).
A great deal of important research
happens within AHS, too.
“Sometimes we have specific
questions that the system needs
answered,” Todd says. “For example,
what particular medications should we
be giving to residents in our long-term
care facilities? Or, how can we at AHS
best improve our patients’ recovery
after surgery? We are driving research
to address these types of questions and
we’ll find the best evidence for answers
through the partnerships AHS has
with the universities.”
A huge amount of health research
is happening in all areas of science
in the province right now. And for
many years, Alberta has contributed
to research at both national and
international levels, thanks to funding
and support from a number of sources,
including Alberta Innovates – Health
Solutions, the province’s health
research management organization.
One better-known research
achievement is the University of
Alberta’s islet transplantation program.
The program uses a surgical technique
pioneered in Alberta to transplant
donated islet cells from the pancreas
applemag.ca 39
Today’s research
into people with type 1 diabetes,
allowing their bodies to process sugar
more effectively.
Plenty of other important research
initiatives are also coming out of the
province, such as the University of
Calgary’s Thrombosis Research Unit
(which is improving how doctors treat
blood clots) and the Alberta Bone
and Joint Health Institute (which is
finding cost-effective ways to treat
osteoarthritis in the knee and reduce
wait times for joint replacements).
Alberta’s provincial health-care
system attracts health researchers, Todd
says, because data can be collected and
Focusing on patients
Goes beyond the lab
Research can often be expensive and
take a long time to produce results.
More and more though, research
funders are focusing on studies most
likely to help patients or the health-care
system in the near future.
“Provincially, nationally and
internationally, health research funders
have become much more interested
in return on investment,” says
Dr. Cy Frank, CEO of Alberta
Innovates – Health Solutions (AIHS).
The impact of health research—a
topic he’s studied extensively—can
Sure, lots of outstanding research
involves laboratories, test tubes and
beakers, but health researchers study
all aspects of wellness.
“Research is a search for knowledge
and evidence to make decisions,”
says Dr. Kathryn Todd, senior vice
president of Research, Innovation and
Analytics for Alberta Health Services.
It is just as likely to happen in an
office, a hospital or a community
as in a lab, and topics can include
everything from how to educate
people about obesity or asthma to
how to develop the best drugs to
treat cancer.
The impact of health research
can be far reaching and can create more
efficiency in the health-care system
easily shared between different medical
centres. Other cities and provinces
in Canada don’t have this kind of
system, making it hard for them to
gather good local information to make
health decisions.
Dealing with the data
Translating research results to healthcare practice is a big challenge for
all researchers.
“There’s so much data out there,
so much good information, and our
challenge is to utilize it,” Todd says.
To make it easier, AHS has created 10
strategic clinical networks, which bring
together experts to find better ways of
treating patients.
These networks focus on better
care and better value for Albertans.
The network areas are: addiction and
mental health, bone and joint health,
cancer care, cardiovascular health and
stroke and critical care. Other areas
of focus include emergency, seniors’
health, surgery, obesity, diabetes and
nutrition, and respiratory conditions.
More networks are planned for 2014
and 2015.
be far-reaching. Not only can health
research help patients, but it can also
create more efficiency in the health-care
system and even help industry create
health-related products and services.
Frank says AIHS takes an evenhanded approach to the topic of return
on investment, funding both applied
research projects and basic science.
“I believe you need both types of
research working in harmony,” he says.
After all, it’s just as important to find a
better way to treat a disease through
an applied research project, as it is
to find a cure, something only basic
science can deliver.
During her life, 33-year-old Smith
has seen treatments for cystic fibrosis
improve dramatically. In fact, she’s
alive today because of a double-lung
transplant she received at the U of
A Hospital in the summer of 2010, a
surgery that wasn’t available the year
she was born.
Until a cure is found, Smith is
happy to participate in local research
however she can: “If it’s not hurting you
and it’s providing valuable information
that can help someone else, why
wouldn’t you?”
Needs local perspective
“You can’t always use only other
people’s knowledge,” Todd says. For
example, research results from outside
of the province can be based on
individuals with little in common with
Albertans. And research conducted
elsewhere may not answer the
questions being asked here at home.
“Sometimes you have to put some
skin in the game,” Todd says. This
means investing in local research
infrastructure, projects and researchers.
Health economist Philip Jacobs, with
the University of Alberta’s Faculty
of Medicine, points out that local
health researchers are often clinicians,
as well, and that their knowledge
can benefit their patients directly.
“There’s a close connection between
community care and academic
research,” says Jacobs.
Takes teamwork
Very few researchers work alone,
says Dr. Cy Frank, CEO of Alberta
Innovates – Health Solutions
“Research has become much more
of a team activity,” he says. The
stereotype of the researcher toiling
alone in a lab couldn’t be further from
the truth, says Frank. “Researchers
are regular people who are really
interested in making a difference.”
th
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r d
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Research is often like a long, winding journey. Progress is
made one step at a time and bumps in the road are common.
For researchers, those bumps can be in the form of obtaining
funding and ethics approval, getting and figuring out data,
and telling the world about their findings. For those looking
for advances in health knowledge and treatments, the
waiting can test their hopes.
These new research programs could change all that, reports
Scott Rollans. Each, in its own way, aims to make it easier to
do research in Alberta and improve our health system
Partnership for
Research and
Innovation in the
Health System
Sometimes, even small changes can
lead to big improvements.
Earlier this year, Alberta Innovates
– Health Solutions (AIHS) announced
that 10 projects will receive $7.5 million
over the next three years through its
Partnership for Research and Innovation
in the Health System Fund competition,
which is jointly funded by AIHS and
Alberta Health Services.
Alberta’s health-care system includes
10 strategic clinical networks, each
designed to improved care in a certain
area (for example, cancer). “The mandate
of the clinical networks is pretty clear,”
explains Dr. Pamela Valentine, who
holds a PhD in psychology with a
specialization in neuroscience and is
AIHS’s chief operating officer. “They
identify potentially inefficient activities
in their area, discover through research
if there are better and more sustainable
ways to do the activities, and then bring
that evidence back to improve the health
delivery system.”
The partnership will
help find ways to
improve patient care while
boosting efficiency and
reducing costs
The funded projects include a wide
range of health issues. One project looks
at the care and treatment of patients
with severe obesity. A second looks for
ways to make surgical units friendlier
for seniors.
“We’re trying to identify the real
needs in the system—things that come
from people practising medicine and
providing care directly,” Valentine
explains. “What kinds of things do they
face? How is that need addressed in the
applemag.ca 41
health research world, and how can we feed
the evidence back into the system?”
The partnership’s vision is that in three
years each network will put small but
significant changes into practice. It’s a practical
approach to improving health care, Valentine
says. “You can’t bring innovation into a huge
health system overnight. If you can identify
little things that can be changed to improve
the health system, and encourage people in
the system to use research knowledge to
make those changes, then ultimately patients
will benefit.”
Depression and
primary care
When Albertans seek help in dealing with
depression, they usually begin with their
family doctor.
“We know that most of those individuals
see their primary care physicians, as opposed
to coming into our more formal addiction
and mental health system,” says Cathy Pryce,
vice president of Alberta Health Services’
Emergency, Addiction and Mental Health
Strategic Clinical Network.
In recent years, AHS has helped people
living with depression by giving family
doctors tools and support. “But then we
started to dig deeper,” Pryce says.
“We want to learn more about what intensity
of treatment is needed for what individuals,
and how we can best make sure that it’s
available in primary care,” she says. “And
to make sure that specialty services—whether
that’s psychologists or psychiatrists, or other
treatment team members—are available
for those for whom depression is not easily
treated.”
For many patients, help might be as close
as their home computer. “The evidence is
suggesting that some of the online self-help
programs can be quite effective in assisting
people in dealing with their depression,”
Pryce says. “We want to learn about whom
would they be appropriate for, and what
kind of improvement we can expect to see if
individuals do go on that kind of a program.”
At the same time, the study will help
doctors recognize which patients may need
more intensive treatment, such as therapy
or medication.The study has been launched
at several Edmonton clinics, and could
eventually be provincewide, with as many as
5,000 people taking part. “As we learn, we’re
going to be providing our findings to primary
care providers across Alberta.”
Alberta Clinical
Research Consortium
This new provincewide project will bring
the latest treatments and preventions to
Albertans by helping health researchers
work together.
The Alberta Clinical Research Consortium
(ACRC) is exploring ways to make health
research easier and more efficient. “It
represents the research community, from
the academic and community-based healthcare systems, from corner to corner across
Alberta,” explains Tammy Mah-Fraser,
consortium project manager with AIHS.
Right now, health researchers in different
areas of Alberta have to deal with a lot of
similar tasks and challenges on their own.
“We did a road map,” Mah-Fraser says. “When
you look at what it takes to actually start a
study, it was close to 12 or 15 steps. And that’s
even before you approach participants.”
We’re trying to identify real
needs from people practising
medicine and providing care
If a single study involves different parts
of the province, researchers often have to go
through many of those steps over and over for
each different region. For example, Mah-Fraser
says, a study might involve both the Tom
Baker Cancer Centre in Calgary and the Cross
Cancer Centre in Edmonton. “It’s the same
study, but it’s often as if you’re in two different
countries. That’s not an efficient use of time
or resources.”
There’s a better way, Mah-Fraser suggests.
“Alberta Health Services has created a great
environment, in that it’s one organization.
As one organization, it is better able to share
what’s happening in Edmonton with what’s
happening in Calgary.”
The consortium is already streamlining
research in Alberta’s health system. For
example, it has created a single process that
helps researchers across the province plan their
studies. “We set out last year with 15 projects
in mind. By this spring, we will probably have
implemented close to 10, with more coming
up,” says Mah-Fraser. “And new projects are
emerging as well.
“Going forward, we would like to focus
on creating a culture for clinical research
in Alberta.”
Health Research Ethics
Harmonization
Before any health research project starts,
it must go through an ethics review—a
process that makes sure those taking part are
properly protected and informed about what
will happen to them in the study and how
findings will be used.
Ethics reviews are absolutely essential, but
can be a confusing and time-consuming hurdle
for researchers. The Alberta Health Research
Ethics Harmonization (HREH) initiative aims
to make the process quicker and more efficient.
Until now, a study with participants living in
several different areas of Alberta would need
an ethics review in each area. The initiative
aims to change that, says Linda BarrettSmith, AIHS’s director of Ethics & Innovation
Platforms. “We’re trying to align, reduce and
streamline the number of health research
ethics boards that must approve a study before
it can begin.”
Barrett-Smith says the initiative, launched
in 2010, has already made progress. “We have
been successful in reducing the number of
boards from six to three,” she says. “More
importantly, we are now reaching a legal
agreement amongst the three that are left,
that there will only need to be one ethics
review application.”
If the initiative succeeds, researchers will be
able to get their studies up and running much
more quickly and easily and still maintain the
required ethics standards.
By making Alberta a better place to do health
research, Barrett-Smith and her team hope
to encourage more research and attract more
investment to the province.
Strategy for PatientOriented Research
Patients will soon play a much more
active role in health research, thanks to
a new Canadian Institutes of Health
Research (CIHR) initiative.
Called SPOR (Strategy for Patient-Oriented
Research) the national program supports
research that is often shaped directly by
patients themselves. In short, as the term
suggests, “patient-oriented research” puts
patients first.
In November 2013, Alberta became the first
place in Canada to launch a SPOR Support
for People and Patient-Oriented Research and
Trials (SUPPORT) Unit. Over the next five
years, the CIHR and AIHS will invest about
$48 million in Alberta to promote and support
patient-oriented research.
Instead of being divided up among
individual research projects, the money will
go into building a framework to encourage and
support patient-oriented research. The Alberta
team has identified seven different “platforms,”
each focusing on different aspects of research.
“Our unit wants to build all the necessary
support to make Alberta a centre for patientoriented research and care,” says Tim Murphy,
executive director of Alberta’s SPOR SUPPORT
Unit. “That means putting the patient first
so that the knowledge gained from research
is relevant, applicable and can change
people’s lives.”
By involving patients, Murphy says,
the quality of research and the quality of
care can be improved. “Patients need to
have their voices heard when we are
developing research.”
Involving patients in
research can improve the quality
of research and care
Although the project is still in its earliest
stages, Murphy hopes the momentum will
continue well beyond five years. “We want this
to become a new way of both doing research
and providing care in the province.”
applemag.ca 43
Generous
Albertans
help fund
health
research
Each year, Albertans give millions of dollars to research projects
in the province. Their reasons for giving vary, but the results are
similar: they help improve the health and wellness of thousands
of people across the province. Connie Bryson looks at how donor
support is changing lives
Donations make a difference.
Just ask Shannon Butler, who’s seen
first-hand how giving to research can
change
a life.
After 17 years of living with
epilepsy, she had just about given up
hope of doing the things she’d always
wanted to do—from driving a car to
having children. Test after test had
failed to identify where in her brain
the seizures were coming from.
Donations from a variety of sources,
including a multi-million dollar gift
to the University Hospital Foundation
from Edmontonian Al Owen, helped
expand the University of Alberta’s
MRI (magnetic resonance imaging)
Research Centre. Dr. Don Gross,
Shannon’s doctor and a medical
researcher, believed one of the centre’s
advanced MRI systems could detect
the abnormality in her brain.
Gross is one of many doctors and
researchers who use the centre to
develop new methods for diagnosing
epilepsy and other diseases, including
Parkinson’s, dementia, stroke and
depression. The combination of stateof-the-art equipment and innovative
MRI data analysis techniques proved
to be just what the doctors needed
to help Butler. She had two surgeries
more than a decade ago and has never
had another seizure.
“I started driving, I started a new
career, and I started my family,” says
Butler. “I got the life I had always
dreamed of thanks to world-class
people, world-class equipment and
the world-class research right here in
Alberta. And it was made possible by
one person’s generosity.”
Inspired to give
Now Butler and her family are paying
it forward. Her experience inspired
them to form the Butler Family
Foundation and to get involved with
the University Hospital Foundation,
initially as annual donors and now
as supporters of the new $35-million
Brain Centre.
The Butlers are in good company.
Each year, Albertans give millions of
dollars to help improve the health and
wellness of thousands of people across
the province by donating to research
projects in the province. Many such
donations are to the foundations
and trusts that support Alberta
Health Services.
For example, during the past 10 years
the University Hospital Foundation
has invested more than $16 million in
medical research partnerships at the
University of Alberta. The Stollery
Children’s Hospital Foundation gave
$8.5 million to research grants in
2011/2012. The Calgary Health Trust,
the fundraising arm of Alberta Health
Services in Calgary, invested about
$6.2 million in research—31 per cent
of the $20 million it gave out—in
2012/2013. In the same year, the Alberta
Children’s Hospital Foundation
invested $7.9 million in research.
Most of this money goes to
researchers at the universities of Alberta
and Calgary, many of whom are also
doctors who care for patients. Often
these funds are matched or leveraged
by dollars from other provincial and
federal research agencies.
Many other health-related charitable
organizations also support research.
Case in point: the Heart and Stroke
Foundation had research on the agenda
from the day it was formed in 1956.
Two years later, the first Heart Month
campaign raised $23,800, giving the
foundation funds for its first research
grant and fellowship award in Alberta.
Now, both its research funds and
scope have grown tremendously. In
2013, the Heart and Stroke Foundation
announced funding of $25 million
to the University of Calgary and
$25 million to the University of
Alberta, part of a 10-year $300-million
commitment to heart and stroke
research across Canada.
Industry is also getting into the act.
applemag.ca 45
Alberta Innovates – Health
Solutions’ interdisciplinary team
grant competition in 2007 caught the
attention of pharmaceutical company
Pfizer Canada. The company donated
$500,000 to the Alberta Osteoarthritis
Team, one of the winning teams,
and then partnered with Alberta
Innovates – Health Solutions and
other provincial and national agencies
to create the $3.5-million Alberta/
Pfizer Translational Research Fund
Opportunity. That fund is used to
transform discoveries made by Alberta
health researchers into medical
technologies and services.
commitment has borne fruit. Alberta,
and in particular the Cross Cancer
Institute, has a much higher clinical
trial enrolment rate than the national
average. In the next year, the institute
hopes to double the number of Alberta
patients in these studies.
“The higher enrolment rate tells us
that more people are getting access
to the most innovative treatments,”
says Alberta Cancer Foundation CEO
Myka Osinchuk. “This is a tremendous
commentary on how you can make
a huge impact with an investment in
research.”
Trends in donor support
As donor options have multiplied,
donors are becoming more
discriminating about what they
support, says Edmontonian Dennis
Klein. For many years, Klein and his
wife Donna have contributed to the
Alberta Cancer Foundation. In 2013, for
the first time, they made a significant
donation to the foundation specifically
for cancer research and they plan to
continue supporting research.
“Donors today are looking more
objectively at their investment
choices,” Klein says. “We want to put
money in the right place so our dollars
make a difference. We want to support
research that translates into positive
outcomes for patients.”
Charitable organizations such as
the Alberta Cancer Foundation are
responding to this new reality of
more targeted giving. Every year,
the foundation invests more than $15
million in cancer research, including at
universities. Where it used to put out
a call for academic research projects
and base grants on what came back,
the foundation now takes a more
strategic approach. For example, it has
invested significantly in cancer clinical
trials over the past seven years. This
is funded by donations to the Alberta
Children’s Hospital Foundation.
“When you’re establishing a new
lab, start-up funds are vital and this
is where the philanthropic donations
have been critical for me,” Rho says.
“Not only is the funding generous,
it’s also flexible. You can put it to use
where you really need it. . . . We’ve
been able to grow the entire pediatric
neuroscience research program in
an accelerated way. In three years
we’ve created a critical mass in all
strategic areas: epilepsy, brain injury
and neurodevelopmental disorders.
Normally this would have taken up to
10 years.”
Rho hopes funding for basic research
will also continue. “It’s important to
remember that today’s MRI scanners
would not exist unless the basic science
of MR spectroscopy was supported
in the mid-20th century,” he says.
“We must invest appropriately and
strategically in enough basic science to
lay the path for future developments
that may not emerge until much later.”
Focus on the future
Philanthropists are also much more
tuned into research funding. While
traditional research grants from
provincial, national and international
organizations are still the bread
and butter of university researchers,
philanthropic investment is a growing
piece of the research funding pie.
Dr. Jong Rho was recruited to the
Alberta Children’s Hospital and the
University of Calgary from the United
States in 2010. The internationally
recognized neurologist and epilepsy
researcher is the Dr. Robert Haslam
Chair in Child Neurology. The chair
While more and more charitable
organizations support research with
direct links to today’s patients, many
donors are willing to look beyond
immediate needs. It’s a natural
evolution, says the University
Hospital Foundation’s president
Joyce Mallman Law.
“Donors’ first gifts tend to support
an area of care that has impacted
them personally. But as they develop a
relationship with our foundation, the
focus often changes. They want to go
beyond funding something immediate
like equipment. They want to make a
difference by helping find solutions.
Supporting research is a natural for
them because they’re looking for
long-term impact—not just for the next
person, but for the next generation.”
applemag.ca 47
A passion for health
where I want to really focus my time.”
“She was like most people in our
program, a little bit wide-eyed,”
remembers Marliss Taylor, the longserving Streetworks program manager.
“This is quite a different environment
than a hospital setting. She came to us
and just was a sponge and absorbed
everything. Kathryn has such skills,
knowledge and compassion. She was
able to pull it all together and see how
Photo: Courtesy Royal Alexandra Hospital Foundation
Kathryn is a woman of great
compassion, great skill and
great knowledge
— Marliss Taylor, Streetworks
Taking it to the streets
Kathryn Dong is helping people in Edmonton’s inner city better
understand their health
Fourteen years ago, Dr. Kathryn
Dong showed up at the offices of
Edmonton’s inner-city Streetworks
program to volunteer. It was a first
for both the program and the medical
resident. Streetworks—which was
founded in 1989 to tackle HIV infection
in drug users and sex-trade workers
and grew to include a number of
infectious diseases—had agreed to take
on young doctors in two-week chunks.
Dong had persuaded her supervisor
to let her explore public health in
addition to her specialty of emergency
medicine.
“Talking to their clients,” Dong
says today, “and listening to people’s
stories, I felt this is where I wanted to
focus my energy. If I can make a
small difference somewhere and
leave the practice of medicine a little
bit better than I found it, this is
poor health often starts long before
someone heads off to the emergency
department.”
Dong, now a practising emergency
doctor at Edmonton’s Royal Alexandra,
is starting the new Inner City Health
and Wellness Program at the hospital.
The program will offer all Royal Alex
patients a chance to improve their
underlying health issues and address
the so-called “social determinants”
of their health, such as income,
employment and education.
Andrew Otway, the CEO and
president of the Royal Alexandra
Foundation, testifies to Dong’s powers
of persuasion. The foundation recently
funded the program to the tune of
$3.5 million. “I think it would be fair
to describe Kathryn as having a zeal
for making an impact,” says Otway.
“The motivation and drivers for her
aren’t the traditional ones such as
the prestige of being a prominent
physician but rather making a real
impact on the population.”
— Jeff Collins
To learn more about Dr. Kathryn Dong
and the Inner City Health and Wellness
Program, visit the Royal Alexandra
Hospital Foundation at royalalex.org/
inner-city.
Health wanted
We are looking for women to be part of a research project who:
Are thinking of becoming pregnant | Are pregnant
Have given birth in the past year
Please contact:
[email protected] or 780-492-0642
exerciseandpregnancy.ca
Nursing: A Leading
Force for Change
Your health-care experience matters to us
If you have feedback or concerns about the care you or a
family member received you can speak directly with your
care team, or contact the Patient Relations Department:
Call 1-855-550-2555 or visit
Nursing Week, May 12-18, 2014
Alberta Health Services celebrates the
everyday and the extraordinary contributions of
nurses to the people in our province.
Growing Healthy Futures
www.albertahealthservices.ca/273.asp
Give
Healthy, strong, vibrant communities bring us together.
Learn more about supporting healthy communities where
you live and becoming a community champion.
For details, visit AHS’s Foundations & Trusts web pages
at albertahealthservices.ca/255.asp.
To book an ad in Health Wanted, call 403.943.2892 or email [email protected]
sleep
every child needs it
Learn about the sleep your child
needs and how to overcome
common sleep problems.
Sign up today for the
CHADS Behavioural Services
Sleep Seminar with Jill Ravanello,
a registered psychologist
and children’s developmental
specialist.
March 13 | April 8
May 8 | June 3
Medicine Hat Regional Hospital
For information and
registration, call:
403-502-8257
applemag.ca 53
My health outlook
Dave Pommer
Photo: Mark Davidson Photography
I am better and that’s enough cause for a
realistic level of rejoicing
Brain surgery pioneered in Alberta gave Dave Pommer a new lease on life, and
relief from Parkinson’s disease.
I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2005,
when I was 53. After more than 30 years working in
journalism and communications, I retired to focus on staying
well and advocating for Parkinson’s. It’s the same disease
that actor Michael J. Fox has, which affects your motor
skills, balance and coordination and causes tremors—it’s
frustrating because your brain still works but your body
doesn’t.
In March 2013, I had surgery: electrodes implanted deep
in my brain and a transmitter into my chest . . . I’m the bionic
man. Deep brain stimulation was impossible before years of
research, clinical trials and new technology here in Alberta
and elsewhere. When I consider how fortunate I was to
have access to the procedure and the expertise to deliver it
safely here in Calgary, I feel truly blessed. Since the surgery,
I’ve tossed my cane aside and feel fluid, loose and more
confident in my step. I feel stronger. My balance, strength
and endurance are much better and my tremors have almost
disappeared. Now I can ride my bicycle and play golf a few
times a week with my wife.
Brain surgery didn’t change everything, but it has given
me a new lease on life. People who haven’t seen me for
a while tell me how remarkable the change is, and I just
smile—I’m so fortunate. I can understand that we all want
the perfect solution; I know I’ve had to manage my own
expectations and forgive myself for hoping all my symptoms
would disappear. But I am better, no doubt about that. That’s
enough cause for a realistic level of rejoicing.
Even with the operation, the disease is still progressive
and as I get older, it will get worse. But I don’t want to get
hung up on the what-ifs. One day at a time. You can never
give up.
It helps to be your own advocate and have people on
your team; Parkinson Alberta has been very helpful. They
provide support services, education, advocacy and funds for
research (parkinsonalberta.ca). They are marvelous.
— As told to Jacqueline Louie and Amy Sawchenko
applemag.ca 55
You care
about your
health…
so do we.
Staying active is key to
maintaining your health, but
the right health and dental
protection is just as important.
Our new Blue Choice health
plans offer higher benefit
maximums than ever before
and the right benefits to
maintain your long-term
health and vitality.
If you’re without employer sponsored benefits,
contact us today for your free information package
Calgary 403-294-4032
Toll free 1-800-394-1965
If you’re age 65 or
over, ask us about our
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prescription drugs • dental
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travel • massage • naturopathy
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applemag.ca 56

Apple Magazine – Spring 2014

Transcription

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