What does health research mean to you?
When I think of health research, I think of all the noteworthy initiatives being undertaken by organizations like the Health Sciences North Research Institute (HSNRI) in the areas of cancer care, heathy ageing, infectious diseases, and northern and indigenous health. HSNRI has demonstrated that health research is not just about generating knowledge, it is about using research outcomes for action – to guide policy and program development and to find sustainable solutions to the most pressing health challenges faced by its stakeholders.
Health research has led to innovations like new therapies that reduce the need for in-hospital care, new devices that track patient diagnostics in order to prevent catastrophic health events, and more effective drugs that improve our quality of life. Health research in mining has led to safer workplaces. These are just a few examples of how health research has transformed the quality of our health care system.
As a business association, we believe that to realize the full potential of the health sector, we need to support health research through its various stages, right up to commercialization and adoption. Collaboration with industry and other partners, embracing leading technologies, and ensuring that research is put in the hands of policy makers, is essential to guarantying health research translates into effective health care action. The commercialization of research is critical.
How does health research contribute to a healthier, wealthier, smarter Ontario?
Let’s start with healthier: leading-edge research has contributed to pioneering practices in advancing patient care as well as treating illness. Think about how the discovery of insulin treatment for diabetes and the electric wheelchair – two Canadian discoveries resulting from revolutionary health research – have impacted patient care. Health research also plays a vital role in prevention and continuous health care quality improvement.
In terms of wealthier and smarter: the figures often reported state that every $1 spent on hospital research generates an estimated $3 in economic output. When one looks at the impact of heath research here in Sudbury, you can see that job creation, the attraction of top talent from around the world, economic diversification, and innovative partnerships between research institutions, academia and industry, are some of the positive outcomes. All these initiatives will contribute to a wealthier Sudbury and Ontario. Health research has enhanced our community’s knowledge economy allowing us to compete on an international scale.
Health spending in Ontario consumes nearly half of the provincial budget. Our health care system is facing a series of challenges including a population that is aging and increasingly suffering from chronic illnesses. Health research can play an important role in leading partnerships with academia and industry to innovate and find solutions to increase efficiencies and enhance the sustainability of our health care system into the future. The Sudbury chamber has partnered with the Ontario Chamber of Commerce on a year-long health transformation initiative that looks at the challenges facing the health care system and has made recommendations for health care reform. We have released a series of reports focused on issues such as innovation in health care, supporting the health sciences sectors, and models for collaboration. These reports can be found at http://www.occ.ca/advocacy/health-transformation-initiative/.
Feel free to reach out to us at the chamber ([email protected]) or tweet us @SudburyCofC to share your thoughts on how you think we as a business association can better support health research and the sustainability of the health care sector.
All the best,
Debbi