Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you have more questions than answers? Well… welcome, you are not alone. With another year behind us, it's time to reflect on the work, as well as some areas that might be described as uncertain or challenging to implement.
Our current grant cycle focuses on improving the quality of life for older adults in BC through system-level interventions. What does this mean, you might ask? That we can answer.
It means we take a close look at what life in long-term care (LTC) is like and support efforts to revitalize and improve the quality of life for residents, visitors, and staff. All this, of course, within the framework of a publicly funded system. One of our grantee partners has introduced the social-relational model of care, and the first purpose-built LTC village, Providence Living at the Views (the Views), opened its doors in July 2024.
The question we are left with is how this model of care translates into a different community context, with a different set of resources and constraints?
Providence Living at the Rivers will open its doors to residents in Prince George in 2028. This is not a simple “lift and shift” of the Views village in Comox. It is a much more complex endeavor, and we look forward to learning more about the process of scaling such a model of care and the impact it could have on communities throughout the Providence network.
Health Justice, another grantee partner, is reviewing the Mental Health Act and health care consent in long-term care. The project will document experiences of involuntary psychiatric care in long-term care, and contribute new evidence for what we hope to be a positive change in mental health care of older adults.
Yes, we love sports analogies, and baseball is one of those games, at least for me, that seems to last forever. When we look at the barriers to aging in the community, there are many; the list is too vast even to consider writing down. But it also means there is a lot that can be done. For example, we believe that investing in and integrating community and social care together with healthcare could result in a better quality of life, not just for seniors but also the community around them. Tailoring supports to meet seniors where they are at also has significant trickle-down effects and shouldn’t be seen as a siloed spending that only benefits the aging population. When we invest in supporting seniors to age in the community, we open the door to improved quality of life and economic benefits for everyone. We just need to get past the first-order thinking and analysis. Yes, the math is a bit more complicated, but it is “mathing”.
This is why we joined an advisory committee for the Centre for Healthy Aging, which will be housed at the new St. Paul’s Hospital. This initiative aims to extend beyond the hospital walls and explore ways in which health and community can collaborate to support older adults in the community.
We are also taking a look at what it actually takes to age in smaller rural as well as remote communities in BC. What assets and gaps exist (and persist) as you move away from larger urban areas? What could be done to see an improvement?
Together with Pallium Canada and other partners, the launch of the very first BC Palliative Atlas. It is an interactive resource that maps out and tracks palliative services across the province. No one ever imagines themselves needing this level of support, but if it so happens, it is helpful to know where to go and what is available.
How do we unlock the process of change, especially in complex static systems where inertia wins almost every time? How do we get traction, momentum, and ultimately stickiness of that change?
One possible answer to that is perhaps investment in people, talent, and infrastructure needed for big leaps forward.
In FY 2025, we leaned into this idea and invested in two catalytic initiatives through a partnership with the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Medicine.
The Conconi Family Foundation Distinguished Scholar in Seniors Care at UBC is the first of its kind, a role that brings frontline research and evidence to support key decision-makers on how best to improve seniors’ care going forward. Dr. Amy Salmon was appointed to this role to ensure that, for the next decade (at least), we will have dedicated capacity provincially to measure and make more informed decisions about what matters most to older adults.
The Conconi Family Biodevice Foundry will help accelerate innovation from the research bench to the hospital bedside. Long-term, we hope this brings added diagnostics, monitoring, and treatment options to BC’s aging population. This is in addition to training a highly skilled workforce and driving economic development through increased capacity for the Life Sciences sector in BC. Dr. Huawei Li has been leading the efforts of bringing the lab to life, and we look forward to learning more about all the ways this new facility will be activated.
What next? Stay tuned. Follow us for more information on our activities throughout the year. Otherwise, we may see you back here next year for another annual recap.
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