Baycrest Health Sciences & Baycrest Foundation Publications
Issue link: http://baycrest.uberflip.com/i/770871
6 T H E B R A I N P R O J E C T 2 0 1 6 aycrest Health Sciences is a global leader in geriatric residential living, healthcare, research, innovation and education, with a special focus on brain health and aging. Established in 1918 as the Toronto Jewish Old Folks Home, Baycrest began to expand in the 1950s on a 23-acre site in north Toronto and evolved to become a multi-faceted academic health sciences centre fully affiliated with the University of Toronto. It is also the home base of the new Canadian Centre for Aging and Brain Health Innovation. Funds raised by The Brain Project support the work of Baycrest, which sees unprecedented opportunities to dramatically redefine the potential for personal engagement, activity and fulfillment in later life. Baycrest has received an "exemplary status" designation from Accreditation Canada as one of the highest performing healthcare organizations in the nation in the delivery of patient care, safety and corporate operations. The campus includes a hospital where older adults with complex medical conditions receive continuing care or rehabilitation; a 472-bed long- term care home; outpatient clinics for memory, mood disorders, hearing, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease and other health concerns; a community centre; day programs for seniors with frailty or cognitive impairment; and assisted living suites and independent living apartments. The Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest, launched in 1989, was ranked by an international panel of leading experts as one of the highest impact cognitive neurosciences programs in the world in the area of human memory and aging. The first research to show that bilingualism delays the onset of dementia was done at Baycrest. The hundreds of studies currently underway include longitudinal research on the brain health of former professional hockey players. Baycrest is co-leader of The Virtual Brain, an international project spanning three continents. The integrated computer model of a fully functioning human brain simulates how the brain is functioning under normal conditions, and then shows how it changes with age and responds to damage from trauma or disease. It will allow scientists – in the not-too-distant future – to virtually test therapies on unique patient groups before introducing those therapies to the patient. Baycrest is also an educational leader in best practices in geriatric care, training 1,300+ professionals a year and routinely hosting educational seminars and medical rounds that are linked to dozens of other sites around the globe. B A B O U T B AY C R E S T