Baycrest

SENIORS MENTAL HEALTH — LONELINESS GUIDELINES Baycrest is playing a key leadership role in the development of Canadian guidelines providing standardized, evidence-based tools, approaches, and resources for healthcare providers and caregivers. With the leadership of Dr. David Conn, former Executive Vice President, Education and Chief Academic Officer of BARE, the first-of-their-kind clinical guidelines on social isolation and loneliness in older adults have been developed and released by the Canadian Coalition for Seniors' Mental Health (CCSMH). The guidelines, addressing Canada's loneliness epidemic, provide healthcare and social service professionals, older adults, and care partners with 17 evidence-based recommendations to support older adults at risk for or experiencing social isolation and loneliness. Loneliness and social isolation are significant risk factors for dementia, stroke, heart disease, anxiety, and depression, and can impact physical and mental well- being. While Canadians of all ages are affected, older adults are particularly at risk due to factors such as lack of energy, living alone, and/or living with physical limitations. Contributing factors associated with aging include transitional life events such as retirement, the death of family or friends, or changes in living arrangements. DEMENTIA CARE PREPAREDNESS INITIATIVE Thanks to $5 million in funding from the Ministry of Long- Term Care, the Ontario Centres for Learning, Research and Innovation (CLRI) teams at BARE, Bruyère Health Research Institute, and Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging are empowering Ontario's LTC sector to improve dementia care. The Dementia Care Preparedness Initiative provided participating LTC homes with an opportunity to build on existing efforts while receiving support from the Ontario CLRI to assess their current state of dementia care delivery, as well as scale and/or adopt new models of care. Each participating LTC home will receive a personalized report that highlights implementation readiness to deliver a dementia program, along with sector benchmarking data. INFLUENCING BRAIN HEALTH POLICY GLOBALLY Northeast X Southeast: Advancing Partnerships At the Canadian Women-only Business Mission to South Korea and Thailand, and in her panels, presentations, and meetings with international business leaders, BARE's Dr. Allison Sekuler focused on the importance of research, education, and innovation to address the pressing needs of aging and brain health globally. She also highlighted BARE and CABHI-supported programs, policies, and products that could be adopted now to address those needs, and arranged for a tour of Baycrest's Aspen Tree campus to showcase Baycrest's broader impact globally. Science Meets Parliament Dr. Björn Herrmann, a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Auditory Aging, was proud to take part in the 2023 Science Meets Parliament program, a unique opportunity for scientists to interface with policymakers. Ontario Hospital Association Research & Innovation Committee The Ontario Hospital Association's (OHA) Research & Innovation Committee co-chairs Dr. Sekuler and Dr. Lehana Thabane (St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton) advocate embedding research and innovation into health ecosystems, improving the link between research and community hospitals, and better connecting research to care. In the article Research Is Care: Harnessing Hospital- Based Research, they champion a shift from a reactive "sick-care" model to one focused on prevention, early detection and innovation, citing hospital-based research as key to this transformation. Brain Economy Thought Leadership & UN General Assembly At the UN Science Summit at the 79th United Nations General Assembly and Summit for the Future conference, Dr. Sekuler advocated for a national investment strategy for prevention, early diagnosis, and a lifecycle approach to brain health, as well as integration of brain health in primary care. 20 BAYCREST ACADEMY FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION Objective 2.3 Mobilize new discoveries, support the implementation and adoption of evidence-based practices, and influence policies.

• Cover