Broken Trust: Financial Abuse of Older Adults
With the rising number of reports of older adults experiencing scams and crimes in recent months, this episode explores the issue of financial abuse of older adults – whether through scams, identity theft, or...
How Digital Literacy Workshops are Bringing Local Seniors Together
Blanche Morris admits that she didn’t always understand computers. But since participating in Tech Coaches’ Digital Literacy workshop offered through the Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation (CABHI),...
CABHI Welcomes 24 New Innovations to Spark-ON and Spark-CU Programs
CABHI recently selected 24 projects to participate in Spark-ON and Spark-CU, subsidiaries of the Spark Program which support the development of grassroots solutions by frontline healthcare workers and...
“It’s Not a Pipeline Issue”: An Honest Look at Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in the Startup World
A 2019 report from the Brookfield Institute found that women and people who identify as visible minorities were more likely to be underpaid and underrepresented in the Canadian tech industry. It’s no wonder...
How to Create Innovative, Compassionate and Rewarding Solutions for Seniors: An Older Adult’s Perspective
In this blog, CABHI Senior Advisory Panel member, Anne Kerr shares her thoughts on the importance of incorporating social connectedness in agetech designs to enhance older adults’ quality of life and...
It’s Time We Got Serious about Pressure Injuries – Canadian Startup Rehabtronics Shows us How
Pressure injuries (also known as pressure ulcers or bed sores) pose a significant challenge for the Canadian and global healthcare system, particularly among older adults and people living with dementia....
COVID-19 Won’t Stop These Digital Innovators from Making a Positive Impact in Senior Care
COVID-19 continues to have a devastating impact on long-term care residents, hospital staff, and older adults with underlying health complications, both in Canada and around the world.[i] Digital healthcare...
Meet the Finalists of CABHI’s MC² Market Readiness Program
* The COSM Medical team, pictured above, is one of six companies accepted into the second cohort of CABHI’s MC2 Market Readiness program. In August 2020, the Centre for Aging + Brain Health...
Lived Experience: A Conversation about Dementia & Technology from an Older Adult Perspective| CABHI’s Community of Innovation Podcast, Episode 18
Since the start of the pandemic, we’ve seen an influx of digital aging and brain health solutions designed to mitigate the virus’ impact on older adults, especially those living with dementia. Many of these...
Caregiving, Sleep and Dementia | Community of Innovation Podcast, Episode 17
On this episode of CABHI’s Community of Innovation podcast, we talk about sleep and its impact on people living with dementia and their caregivers. Joining us for this in-depth discussion is Dr. Andrew Lim, a...
Tackling the Multinational Aging Challenge | CABHI’s Community of Innovation Podcast, Episode 16
This week’s Community of Innovation Podcast episode features another rapid-fire discussion from CABHI’s 2020 What’s Next Canada conference. This episode addresses how organizations can tackle the challenges...
The Intersection of Health Research and Innovation | CABHI’s Community of Innovation Podcast, Episode 14 (LIVE)
Linking health research and innovation can feel like mixing oil and water. While research lives in the realm of academia, innovation is often associated with business and the marketplace. Yet, closing the gap...
The Longevity Economy Outlook | CABHI’s Community of Innovation Podcast, Episode 13
Our newest podcast episode kicks off an eight-part series that captures engaging conversations from CABHI’s 2020 What’s Next Canada conference – Canada’s premier event for networking, collaboration and...
Aging & Brain Health Solutions Making an Impact in Diverse Communities
“Culture is an important part of people’s determinants of health. We can’t afford to leave it out.” – Sharon Kiptoo, CABHI project lead COVID-19 has placed a spotlight on the need for...
The Intergenerational Choir Supporting Caregivers and Combatting Ageism in Burnaby, British Columbia
Singing in front of others can be daunting. But as members of the New Dementians Choir have discovered, it can also be a fun way to create a diverse community that embraces all people, regardless of their age,...
Mind, Body & Spirit: Maintaining Your Cognitive and Physical Health During a Pandemic | Community of Innovation Podcast, Episode 11
This is part two of our four-part COVID-19 mini-series. American feminist writer Betty Friedan once said, “Aging is not lost youth, but a new stage of opportunity and strength.” On this week’s podcast...
CABHI Invests in Canadian Healthtech Startups with MC² Market Readiness Program
We are in the middle of a healthtech renaissance. As the shockwaves of COVID-19 reverberate throughout our world, older adults, caregivers and front-line care professionals are turning to technology for things...
Ontario Healthtech Startups, Meet Silicon Valley: A Look at CABHI’s New MC² Market Readiness Program
On August 13, 2020, the Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation’s (CABHI) Mentorship, Capital and Continuation program (MC2), in partnership with National Bank, presented MC2 Market Readiness, a...
5 Innovations Helping Seniors Thrive in Place
Aging shouldn’t just be about adding more years to your life. It should be about adding more life to your years. It should be about thriving in your setting of choice and having access to resources that...
Linked Senior’s Social Engagement Platform adds Fun & Purpose to Senior Care
If Charles de Vilmorin could write a formula for effective person-centred care, it would be made up of equal parts scientific research, technology and fun. These three ingredients form the foundation for...
CABHI Program Sparks Innovative Arts Initiative in Rural Newfoundland
Creativity will soon know no bounds for older adults living in Western Newfoundland, thanks to SmArt Aging – a community-based art program aimed at supporting brain health among socially and geographically...
5 Digital Innovators Pivot to Address COVID-19 and its Impact on Seniors and Caregivers
In light of the current public-health emergency caused by COVID-19, the Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation (CABHI) will be releasing a series of blogs about the aging and brain health solutions aimed...
Protecting our Home Fires: COVID-19 Resources for Indigenous Seniors and their Communities
In light of the current public-health emergency caused by COVID-19, CABHI will be releasing a series of blogs about the aging and brain health solutions aimed at promoting the physical, cognitive, and social...
COMPAs: A Path to Person-Centred Communication for People Living with Dementia
In light of the current public-health emergency caused by COVID-19, CABHI will be releasing a series of blogs about the aging and brain health solutions aimed at promoting the physical, cognitive, and social...
A Seniors’ Centre Without Walls: Connecting Seniors in Rural Ontario
In light of the current public-health emergency caused by COVID-19, CABHI will be releasing a series of blogs about the aging and brain health solutions aimed at promoting the physical, cognitive, and social...
5 Innovative Solutions for Combatting Social Isolation Among Seniors During COVID-19
In light of the current public-health emergency caused by COVID-19, CABHI will be releasing a series of blogs about the aging and brain health solutions aimed at promoting the physical, cognitive and social...
Assistive Communication Technology Helps Seniors with Declining Speech Find their Voice Again
If you’d have asked Guyatree Kralovic to describe her father Bobby a few years ago, she would have told you he was a social butterfly. He was loud, opinionated, and told colourful stories of his youth, along...
In Wake of COVID-19, CABHI Conference Makes Quick Pivot to Virtual
As COVID-19 started to escalate globally and in Canada, the Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation (CABHI), powered by Baycrest, pivoted to deliver its annual What’s Next Canada conference as a global...
The Tech Startup Giving the Hospital Bed a Much-Needed Makeover
Not much has changed for the hospital bed since it first began appearing with electrical functions in the 1950s. Since then, new and more advanced technology has been added to its frame – but the overall...
Innovating For Seniors, With Seniors, Through CABHI’s Seniors Advisory Panel
Every great idea needs a sounding board. Innovative aging and brain health solutions are no different. As the number of Canadians with dementia-related diseases continues to rise, it’s important that we...
The Innovations Changing the Landscape of Seniors’ Care in Canada
Innovative health care solutions are all around us, waiting to be uncovered. Developing ideas into tangible products, services, and best practices must remain a priority in the longevity sector in order to...
How Digital Health is Helping Seniors Live Longer and Better
The Canadian population is aging faster now than at any time in our history. Technology will play a crucial role in the way we understand and treat age-related conditions such as dementia, and effective...
Caring for the Caregiver: Why it’s important and 5 innovations making it possible
In honour of Alzheimer’s Awareness Month, CABHI is releasing two new blogs a week about the innovative solutions changing the dementia narrative in Ontario, Canada, and around the world. Caregivers are...
Innovative Aging Solutions Making a Difference in Indigenous Communities
In honour of Alzheimer’s Awareness Month, CABHI is releasing two new blogs a week about the innovative solutions changing the dementia narrative in Ontario, Canada, and around the world. ...
SafelyYou: Keeping Seniors Safe by Reducing Falls and Emergency Room Visits
In honour of Alzheimer’s Awareness Month, CABHI is releasing two new blogs a week about the innovative solutions changing the dementia narrative in Ontario, Canada, and around the world. Using AI to detect...
Battling Social Isolation with the Power of Intergenerational Storytelling
Older adults living in long-term care facilities are at risk of experiencing social isolation and loneliness. These challenges are often associated with anxiety, depression and cognitive decline.[1] The...
Picture This: How Virtual Reality is Shaping the Future of Dementia Care
It only takes a moment for Alan Scott to see the positive impact a virtual reality (VR) experience has on his wife Beverly. The experience, courtesy of the albert project™ – a VR application designed for...
Early Adoption Initiative drives implementation of leading-edge innovations in seniors’ care
Adoption remains one of the biggest barriers to innovation. Even the best ideas can get stuck if provider organizations do not have the capacity to take up something new and put it into practice. In 2016, the...
RetiSpec aims to improve lives—and the healthcare system
An estimated 564,000 Canadians are currently living with dementia. As of 2016, the combined healthcare system and out-of-pocket caregiver costs each year related to Alzheimer’s are estimated at $10.4 billion...
Growing Canadian companies: Trualta expands reach at home and abroad
Family members play an increasingly important role in providing safe and competent care for loved ones with dementia living at home. Informal caregivers often provide care while juggling a career and family...
Seniors’ care innovation? There’s an app for that.
We live in an app-ified world – and seniors’ care is no exception. Among the many apps available on the market, some digitize or simplify tasks for a caregiver or health professional; some allow older adults...
A better night’s sleep for older adults living with dementia
Therapeutic recreation coordinator Eve Baird is on a mission: to help those living with dementia sleep better. Working with long-term care residents at Fredericton’s York Care Centre, she knows firsthand the...
CABHI-funded young onset dementia program gives Calgary families hope
When Cindy McCaffery’s husband began struggling at work, she knew something was off. “For a couple of months he’d been having trouble,” she says of her husband John, who worked as an estate administrator at a...
Can virtual reality make long-term care residents happier? One CABHI project investigates.
In one Fredericton long-term care home, older adults are donning headsets and entering alternate worlds. Virtual reality (VR) is one of the most exciting technologies in seniors’ care innovation today. Based...
Dementia and noise: how one long-term care home is enhancing its sound environment to support residents’ mental health
Meet Sarah Condran, music therapist at Arborstone Enhanced Care (Shannex) in Halifax, Nova Scotia. As a front-line clinician working with sound every day, she sees firsthand that noise can affect the mental...
New app for dementia caregivers launches, with CABHI support
A new app that supports caregivers of people with dementia and helps them better care for their loved ones and clients has been launched to market today. Up to 90% of people with dementia will experience...
CABHI-supported study examines how Indigenous languages apps can benefit First Nations older adults living with dementia
Rising rates of dementia in Canada are a known public health concern. What’s less commonly understood is how dementia affects Indigenous communities in Canada. Rates of dementia in Indigenous communities have...
Aging Out: How one CABHI project is improving the culture of long-term care for LGBTQ seniors
Picture this: you’re a personal support worker at a long-term care home. One of the residents, an elderly man with dementia, begins to show romantic affection for his male roommate, who is married to a woman....
“A way to be present”: digitized recreation platform helps older adults lead healthier, more meaningful lives
As Canadian life expectancy rises, so does the chance that older adults will struggle with isolation—a risk factor for ill health. It’s a problem innovator Charles de Vilmorin knows well. For years he watched...
Alzheimer’s Awareness Month: Innovating for Impact
Message from William Reichman, MD, Baycrest President & CEO According to the Alzheimer Society of Canada, there are currently over half a million Canadians living with dementia. In 15 years, that figure is...
CABHI-supported workshop for nursing students tackles ‘reality shock’ in dementia care
Ben Hartung is no stranger to dementia care. With a mother who’s a nurse and grandparents who lived with dementia, he was inspired by his own life experience to become a geriatric nurse. As he transitioned...
Improving seniors’ brain health, one habit at a time
Mr. G. is a 72-year-old retired businessman living in Nova Scotia. With a family history of dementia, a personal history of heart disease and high blood pressure, and currently undergoing treatment for a mood...
Digital initiative gives isolated seniors access to therapeutic activities
We’ve known for decades that therapeutic recreation—using engaging activities like music, games, or sports to enhance a person’s well-being—and creative arts are beneficial for older adults. But lack of access...
Could smart home living benefit seniors with early-stage dementia?
Smart homes for seniors? The two make an unlikely match—but one CABHI-funded project is evaluating how living in a smart home could improve quality of life for older adults with early-stage dementia. Victoria,...
Virtual reality program aims to help seniors with cognitive impairment exercise at home
Fitness video games—think Wii Fit or Dance Dance Revolution—are commonly associated with adolescents. These exercise programs (also called exergames) use virtual reality software to track body movements,...
Creating a virtual village for caregivers
Baycrest research assistant Chanile Vines knows what it’s like to care for a loved one with dementia. She remembers how disoriented she felt adjusting to her new role as a caregiver when her late grandmother...
CABHI-funded project wins major international award for innovation in education
The CABHI-funded SOS Educational App for Healthcare has been announced the winner of the prestigious 2018 Ted Freedman Award for Innovation in Education. The major international award, administered by...
Harnessing the power of community to keep older adults living with dementia safe
Toronto caregiver Ron Beleno knows what it’s like to have a loved one with dementia go missing. “My dad had Alzheimer’s for ten-plus years. He used to be a wanderer – he’d go on walks, become confused and get...
Simplifying dementia care through technology
As more and more Canadians live with dementia, they’re being treated in multiple locations and by multiple healthcare providers. For patients and caregivers, understanding each set of medical instructions can...
Volunteer program helps residents with dementia explore meaningful activities
“Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day. Teach a person to fish and you feed them for a lifetime.” What if we applied this age-old saying to a volunteer program? In a nutshell, that’s what the PLEASE...
Virtual reality and dementia care
Imagine walking into a long-term care facility where residents living with dementia have access to headsets that immerse them into a peaceful forest. This reality might not be that far off. Some hospitals are...
CABHI workshop inspires students to brainstorm senior-sector innovations
Often times, the best ideas surface when people with different perspectives join forces. Earlier this month, the Baycrest-led Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation (CABHI) welcomed more than 60 high...
A collaborative approach to medication management
It’s safe to say Dr. Joanne Ho – an internist, geriatrician and clinical pharmacologist – wears many hats. But the one common thread in her professional life is an interest in medication. “I found it...
App offers a common language to care providers of seniors
Like many innovations in healthcare, the Sensory Observation System (SOS) Checklist App came about after a clinician noticed an issue in practice. “There is room to improve communication in long-term care,”...
Transforming a memory program for seniors into an online tool
Transforming a clinically validated intervention into an e-learning tool takes a lot of work. Just ask Cindy Plunkett, a project manager for CABHI’s e-Learning and Educational Technologies division....
Support group gives caregivers in rural Canada the network they eagerly seek
A psychiatric nurse by training, Peter White started noticing something was going on with his family member in the early 2010s. “I knew there was something wrong, but [the person] kept telling me it was life...
A platform for educating caregivers and patients with dementia
Receiving a diagnosis like dementia is often overwhelming for patients and their families. It’s nearly impossible for healthcare professionals to provide all the information a patient would want to know in...
Spreading the knowledge: the impact of dance in dementia care
Dance has the ability to move people literally and figuratively. It’s no different with seniors experiencing dementia. “Dementia, is a progressive disease where language and communication over time starts to...
Bringing the power of play to dementia care
Who says playing is just for children? Adults can benefit from a dose of creativity and fun as well. That’s the philosophy behind Play Intervention for Dementia (PID), a strategy developed by University of...
Biking with a twist: the wheels are rolling on CABHI-supported Motiview study
UPDATE – CABHI had the opportunity to connect with an older adult named Isabella, a long-term care resident at Toronto’s West Park LTC who experienced Motiview ahead of the trial slated to begin in...
An audiologist’s quest to empower seniors through hearing
Picture this: you’re sitting at a restaurant with your friends and family. There’s tons of noise around you, from the clinking of cups to the shuffling of people entering and leaving. The conversations...
Adding a social, tech-savvy layer to falls prevention
Being able to take a casual stroll to a friend’s house or the nearest convenience store is something a lot of us take for granted. But what if you were hesitant to walk for a specific reason – be it physical...
Adding an automated touch to medication compliance
Believe it or not, more than 20 per cent of nursing home admissions are linked to medication noncompliance. That means for every five seniors admitted to nursing homes, at least one is potentially there...
A marketplace for seniors: collaboration with CABHI helps Ontario-based uCarenet move to trial phase
Like many innovations, uCarenet’s solution was born out of a personal problem. Ontario-raised entrepreneur NectariCharitakis was working abroad, but found himself constantly returning home to address...
The art of connecting in dementia: new program promotes creativity, helping caregivers along the way
The day Diane found out her spouse was diagnosed with dementia is one she will never forget. “The first time you hear your husband has dementia you’re shocked, surprised, disillusioned,” she adds. It’s been...
XR and healthcare: using technology to make the impossible possible
VR and XR. Do these acronyms mean anything to you? They may seem like gibberish right now. However, thought leaders in many industries – including healthcare – are starting to embrace virtual reality (VR) and...
Lighting the Way: Collaboration leads to laser tech that helps seniors walk
Collaboration. It’s a word that gets thrown around all the time in industries ranging from music to education. However, bringing inter-professional minds together is important to other fields too – especially...
