Healthy showing

Research is vital in building top quality patient care for people in Northwestern Ontario, said the scientific director for St. Joseph’s Care Group.

"I think Thunder Bay and the northwest in general is really developing a strong focus on research and really good expertise in many areas," said Michel Bedard at the Showcase of Health Research 2011 at the Best Western Nor’Wester Resort Hotel Friday morning.

The showcase, hosted by the St. Joseph’s research department, gives local researchers the chance to present their findings to the health care community. When it began in 2006, it was limited to work being done within the care group, but has since expanded to include anybody in the region.

Bedard said the topics discussed Friday included issues around injury prevention, acute care, chronic care, rehabilitation and nursing home care.

"It really spans the whole continuum of care and I think that’s what’s really important because we can make an impact in all those areas," he said. "I think it’s very innovative in many ways and I think some of the research is really relevant to the population of Northwestern Ontario…that research often has really applied ramifications in terms of improving client care."

Pirjo Smith, a social worker at the Sister Margaret Smith Centre, has been researching a new method of treatment for their women’s residential program after noticing a significant dropout rate.

"We came across a treatment approach called dialectical behaviour therapy, which has a strong coping skills component to the treatment," she said, adding they hoped it would help retain women by giving them increased skills to deal with an inpatient treatment setting.

Smith said forums like the showcase are invaluable to her team because it helps them determine how effective their results are according to more objective measures.

"Without the support of the care group in terms of supporting research…we would really be losing out on a significant piece of information that helps us to know if our treatment is working," she said.

Speech language pathologist Karen Halvorson has been working with senior kindergarten students to determine the impact of their therapy on early literacy skills.

She said the showcase is great for her since she’s a therapist, not a researcher.

"I just want to make sure I’m following evidence-based research and making impact with the therapy we do in the schools and in the hospital," she said. "For me, it gets me on board and more focused so I can provide better care."