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Over 300 guests attended the fifth annual Lawson Impact Awards on Wednesday, April 18 at the London Convention Centre to honour research making a difference and to recognize the accomplishments of our scientists, staff, trainees and partners.

“There are many individuals, groups and partners at Lawson who regularly go above and beyond to drive innovative new discoveries. For the past five years, the Lawson Impact Awards have given us the opportunity to step back and reflect on the importance of the work we do here and how these contributions ultimately improve patient care,” says Dr. David Hill, Scientific Director, Lawson Health Research Institute.

This year’s Lawson Impact Award winners include:

• Dr. Robert Teasell – Scientist of the Year Award
• Dr. Mandar Jog – Innovation Award
• Dr. Manuel Montero-Odasso – Dr. Joseph Gilbert Research Contribution of the Year Award
• London X-Ray Associates – Industry Partner of the Year Awards
• CAISA Fashion Show; London Run for Ovarian Cancer; and Kyle MacDonald and John Franklin – Community Partner of the Year Award
• Sarah Best – Staff Award of Excellence
• Sheila Fleming – Staff Award of Excellence
• Amanda McIntyre – Leadership Award for Fellows & Students

The recipients of Lawson’s 2018 Strategic Research Fund (SRF) were also revealed at the Lawson Impact Awards. The Lawson SRF is an annual competition that supports projects that will advance science in alignment with Lawson’s strategic research goals, as outlined in the Lawson Strategic Plan 2014-2018. This year’s competition was open to all areas of research. The following two projects were awarded $50,000 over a two-year period:

• “Mindfulness group intervention for newly diagnosed persons with Multiple Sclerosis: A pilot study” – Drs. Sarah A. Morrow and Arlene MacDougall
• “Extending routinely collected data research at Western: Does enhanced medical reconciliation improve care at London hospitals?” – Drs. Blayne Welk and Amit Garg

In addition to the Lawson Impact Award and SRF recipients, two Children’s Health Research Institute (CHRI) award recipients were recognized at the event. CHRI is a program of Lawson and awards a Scientist and Trainee of the Year annually. These awards are sponsored by the Children’s Health Foundation. CHRI’s 2017 award recipients were honoured at the Lawson Impact Awards: Dr. Lina Dagnino (CHRI Scientist of the Year) and Dr. Amer Youssef (CHRI Deb Comuzzi Trainee of the Year).

A highlight of the event was a keynote presentation from physician-scientist and 3D innovator, Dr. Julielynn Wong, titled “How Technology is Enhancing Our Future.” Dr. Wong delivered an engaging talk on how technology trends such as 3D printing and drones can improve health care accessibility. Her presentation included a 3D printing demonstration and guests were given the opportunity to examine samples of 3D printed medical supplies.

To view videos of each award winner, visit the Lawson YouTube page. To see more photos from the event, visit Lawson’s Facebook page.

In Canada, about 235,000 people experience homelessness each year. The number of homeless people, and the length of time they spend homeless, continues to rise. Homelessness is not a choice and anyone can become homeless. 

Although the root cause is poverty, some underlying issues are poor physical or mental health; violence or abuse in the home; lack of employment or income; and, a shortage of affordable housing. 

A group of researchers at Lawson Health Research Institute (Lawson), working at both London Health Sciences (LHSC) and St. Joseph’s Health Care London (St. Joseph’s), are committed to tackling the issue of homelessness from within hospital walls, where some patients face the risk of being discharged into homelessness. 

“Many of our patients with lived experience of homelessness were saying that their journey started with a hospital discharge,” says Lawson clinician researcher Dr. Cheryl Forchuk. “Often, they were experiencing major transitions in their lives and then experienced a hospital stay. Normally a relatively short visit, they aren’t able to gather the information and make a plan to be able to leave the hospital with somewhere to stay.”

On September 10, Adam Vaughan, Canadian MP and Parliamentary Secretary (Housing and Urban Affairs), on behalf of the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, announced that Lawson will receive $223,572 from the Homelessness Partnering Strategy’s (HPS) Innovative Solutions to Homelessness funding stream to support the project “No Fixed Address Version 2 Expansion” research project. 

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“This is a brilliant approach. It supports an augmented duty of care where hospitals have the means to transfer people into stable settings where they can continue to heal and move towards self-sufficiency,” says Parliamentary Secretary Vaughan. 

Taking place at London Health Sciences Centre, this research will further refine the No Fixed Address strategy for reaching and supporting patients during the crucial transitional period when they are being discharged from the hospital and re-integrated into the community. 

“Lawson’s expanded No Fixed Address research project is the first evaluation anywhere of a strategy to reduce the number of patients being discharged into homelessness. There is almost no literature on any aspect of this troublesome issue,” explains Dr. Forchuk who is the study’s Principal Investigator. Dr. Forchuk is also the Beryl and Richard Ivey Research Chair in Aging, Mental Health, Rehabilitation and Recovery and Assistant Director at Lawson.

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This project is an extension of three previous studies conducted by Dr. Forchuk’s research team, which developed and tested this novel approach. They demonstrated the efficacy, feasibility and cost-effectiveness of using the No Fixed Address strategy in acute and tertiary psychiatric care in the London region, at both LHSC and St. Joseph’s. In the first phase, they found that the interventions used prevented homelessness in 95 per cent of cases. 

The researchers are now taking a solution proven to have worked in the mental health units and applying it in selected medical departments at LHSC. Through the study, the services will be available to all patients in those units who are at risk of homelessness. There have already been 17 patients who have accessed this support since the project got underway this summer. 

Three community partners from London are supporting implementation of the strategy - Canadian Mental Health Association Middlesex, Ontario Works in the City of London and the Salvation Army’s Housing Stability Bank. They will provide assistance in areas like securing appropriate private-sector housing, provision of income and employment supports, and financial assistance. 

“In many ways London, Ontario is the high water mark of solving and tackling homelessness. This community has a lot of be proud of given the way that the municipality is stepping up to the plate and how many different organizations are working together towards a common goal,” says Parliamentary Secretary Vaughan. 

This kind of collaboration showcases the important partnership between the Canadian Government, research-intensive hospitals and community organizations to translate innovative solutions from the research stage to the front line of care. 

“The hope is that the findings will be even more robust, leading to the development of a best-practice model of hospital discharge that can be adopted throughout Canada. This will reinforce the need for a systemic change in the way hospital discharges occur and ensuring the person is transitioning to a secure housing arrangement,” says Dr. Forchuk. 

Learn more about the Government of Canada’s Homelessness Partnering Strategy. 

News Coverage

• CBC London - Helping medical patients in London avoid homelessness when they leave hospital 
• CTV London - Expanded research hopes to break the cycle of homelessness that psychiatric patients sometimes face when discharged
• Global News, AM 980 - Program that finds housing for homeless patients in hospital gets $223K in federal funding
• London Free Press - 'Brilliant approach' to homelessness gets federal grant