Patient-oriented research takes place all over KGH, including in our recently opened state-of-the-art electrophysiology lab for cardiac patients.
Patient-oriented research takes place all over KGH, including in our recently opened state-of-the-art electrophysiology lab for cardiac patients.
Credit
Matthew Manor

As one of Ontario’s research hospitals, Kingston General Hospital is part of a new campaign that’s aiming to draw attention to the incredible value generated by health research across our province. The campaign is called Healthier, Wealthier and Smarter and it’s been put together by the Council of Academic Hospitals of Ontario (CAHO) for an official launch on June 1.

CAHO represents 24 research hospitals in the province and this new campaign is all about shining a light on how innovative, patient-engaged research makes our province a Healthier, Wealthier, and Smarter place to live. Here’s how:

  • Healthier: CAHO member hospitals discover better cares, cures and treatments for the most pressing health challenges.
  • Wealthier: Research conducted in CAHO member hospitals helps develop new, efficient care delivery methods and procedures while reducing costs and improving the quality of patient care.
  • Smarter: CAHO member hospitals attract the best and brightest researchers and scientists from across the globe, and are home to more than 16,400 researchers and research staff.

The campaign is officially launching at a conference on Monday, June 1 in the MaRS Discovery District in downtown Toronto. The event will kick things off by generating discussion and public interest in patient-engaged research. Our own CEO Leslee Thompson will be on hand. She is also the Chair of CAHO and has played a key role in helping shape this public campaign.

“CAHO hospitals play a distinctive role in the research and innovation ecosystem in Ontario. Our member hospitals form the R&D arm of Ontario’s health care system,” says Thompson. “When you are working at the hospital level, as our members are, you are close to patients and to the discovery process. You see how clinical trials ensure that novel therapies are brought to patients in safe and controlled settings, and that the promise of benefit to patients is tested.”

Meanwhile here at KGH, our ongoing efforts to cultivate patient-oriented research will soon be getting a big boost with the creation of the W.J. Henderson Centre for Patient-Oriented Research. It will add approximately 10,000 square feet of research space and provide a new environment to bring clinician-scientists and patients together in a multi-disciplinary setting, expanding opportunities for our patients to participate in ground-breaking studies that may change the outcome and progression of their disease.

“We’re not content to just give the same old treatments that the people who taught us did twenty years ago. We want to improve patient care, and it really does feed right back into direct patient care,” says Dr. Damien Redfearn, one of the clinician scientists in our Cardiology program. “You know if you’re in a research protocol or project here at KGH, then your doctor is at the cutting edge of his field and you’re being involved in something that can improve the care that you’re going to receive or somebody like you will receive in the near future.”

You can join in on the conversation on Twitter by looking for the hashtag #onHWS on June 1 and beyond.