Brightshores Research Institute Aims to Lead Innovation in Rural Healthcare

A local organization called Brightshores Research Institute is hiring – but what is this new non-profit, and how does it differ from Brightshores Health System?

Our local hospital system has undergone a great deal of change recently, from a complete rebrand to the replacement of retired CEO Gary Sims with current CEO and president Ann Ford.

Now, they’re in the process of establishing a not-for-profit research institute and transitioning the hospital group’s research activities and projects into it. Their goals are lofty – to improve local access to healthcare, attract and retain medical talent, and build Brightshores’ profile as a leader in rural healthcare and wellness.

The Owen Sound Current spoke with Ann Ford, Brightshores President and CEO, and Dr. Rebecca Brookham, Director of Research & Innovation, to learn more about Brightshores Research Institute and what it means for our community.

The recent job posting seeking an Executive Director for the organization states:

“Brightshores Research Institute is a newly formed independent, not-for-profit organization seeking a strategic, dynamic, and inspiring leader as its inaugural Executive Director.

Working in partnership with Brightshores Health System and its Foundations, academia, industry and community stakeholders, the Institute aims to be a leader in rural health and wellness by driving new areas of research and innovation beyond conventional clinical trials.”

The centre’s goal, Dr. Brookham said, is for Brightshores to be recognized as a leader in rural health and wellness.

“The Research Institute will advance innovative, research-driven initiatives that enhance health and wellness in rural communities,” she explained.

Dr. Brookham added that the Institute will be focused on “improving healthcare access and treatment to our local rural communities by raising the profile of research and innovation through growth, development and encouraging new areas of research beyond conventional clinical trials.”

She explained that the new organization gives Brightshores medical professionals access to research coordinators and allows them to provide novel treatments to patients in a structured environment.

Otherwise, those patients might have to travel to a city hospital for care, and doctors would miss out on opportunities to participate in research.

In that way, the Research Institute should also help Brightshores attract talent to Grey and Bruce. “We’re optimistic that this will have a positive impact on the recruitment and retention of physicians, nurse practitioners, and other professionals,” Dr. Brookham said.

Ford expanded on the concept of a separate organization for research, and what this looks like in practice. “Brightshores Health System is the hospital system and the services we provide in six hospitals across the region, plus our Wellness Centre,” she explained.

When Ford became CEO in October 2023, the Office of Research and Innovation was a fairly new department within the organization.

“The Office had been founded to look at innovation and research-driven initiatives that were already occurring within the hospitals. We have a number of physicians doing clinical research, and there’s also innovation and new technologies research that some of our physicians are interested in,” Ford shared.

Expanding the Research Institute organization to a standalone organization provides more opportunities for innovation projects, funding, and partnerships than were possible with their research arm as a department of the hospital organization.

“The Institute is the next level of evolution where, as a free-standing organization, it can take what we’re trying to do further than what we can do as a department of the health system,” Ford said.

We asked Brightshores specifically how this new entity will be funded.

“The funding will be independent, but the hospital and research institute will always be partners. The institute is founded on improving patient care and access, so these grants are really about improving access in this community,” Ford explained.

The hospital has provided some seed funding, and the Institute has received $180,000 in private donations. According to Dr. Brookham, the goal is that at the end of a two-year trial period, the Research Institute will be fully and independently funded through grants, donations, and partnership programs.

In its first year, it has received $1.6 million in grants and partnership funding:

“How do we provide services out in the community rather than only in Owen Sound at the emergency room or ambulatory care?” Ford puzzled on our call. It’s a challenge she and her team are hoping the Research Institute will help address.

She cited an ongoing wound care research partnership as an example of how innovation is helping improve rural healthcare.

In March, Brightshores received a significant co-investment from DIGITAL, Canada’s Global Innovation Cluster for digital technologies, for an innovation Project aimed at revolutionizing wound care technology. The funding was made available through the organization’s specialized Horizon AI program, a national program that “seeks to capture Canada’s economic potential for applied AI.”

Brightshores and its partners – including Swift Medical, Giishkaandago’Ikwe Health Services, the National Research Council of Canada, and the Centre for Technology Adoption for Aging in the North at the University of Northern British Columbia – are working on creating an Advanced AI Wound Care Network.

In it, medical professionals will have access to technology for capturing and documenting detailed images of wounds. The tech then uses artificial intelligence to measure visible wound depth, predict wound tissue type, and predict which wounds put the patient at greater risk.

One key advantage of this technology is the standardization of wound assessments across all hospital sites, which helps local medical professionals optimize resource allocation and expedite care delivery to priority cases.

“This project heralds a new era in wound care management, offering a transformative solution to address the pressing healthcare needs of our community,” Dr. Brookham, said as part of the partnership announcement. “With a high burden of wounds, particularly those associated with diabetes, and limited resources to assess patients across our 6 sites, the adoption of this technology will significantly enhance our capabilities.”

Earlier this year, Brightshores announced it had signed a memorandum of understanding with its closest academic partner, Georgian College, solidifying their “shared commitment to advancing healthcare, education, and research in our communities.”

The partnership enables Georgian BScN students to undertake capstone projects involving research at Brightshores hospitals.

In April, Brightshores announced another partnership with Sheridan College on an initiative aimed at addressing health inequities in rural communities. Their project is described as follows:

That project is funded via Sheridan’s Mobilize Seed Funds, part of a five-year, $3.35 million Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Mobilize Grant that Sheridan received in fall 2022.

Looking forward, Ford and her team are optimistic about the impact Brightshores Research Institute will have on the Grey-Bruce community.

“We do expect that the Research Institute is going to attract attention and bring people here – and help them stay here, as well, so it will have an impact on retention,” Dr. Brookham said. “It puts us on the map, and it brings opportunity.”

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