Success Stories

 

Success stories from the Research Exchange Groups are as numerous and diverse as the groups themselves.  The following are some highlights:

  • In November 2022, The Phoenix Garden Project, which grew from a working group on the Research Exchange Group on Horticultural Therapy, was awarded the Memorial University President's Award for Public Engagement: https://gazette.mun.ca/public-engagement/nurturing-healing/
  • A community research team from Planned Parenthood have connected with a group of midwives and researchers from the Research Exchange Group on Midwifery and Maternal Health to build a collaborative team that will submit an application to the CIHR for funding on afive-year sexual and reproductive healthcare research project with a focus on access to care for people in rural places. 
  • An MPH Practicum student working in 2022 for the Research Exhange Group on Indigenous Health created a Compendium of Indigenous Health Resources which is now available on the NLCAHR website to support Indigenous research and community engagement.
  • A working group of the Research Exchange Group on Arts & Health is working on building supports for social prescribing as a care framework for the province, including meeting with several committees from Health AccordNL. In August of 2022, an MPH practicum student researched and reported on  frameworks for social prescribing and reported her work to research, community and government partners.
  • The Research Exchange Group on Aging consulted with the Health AccordNL committee on population aging to inform the calls to action to support older adults in Newfoundland and Labrador.
  • The Research Exchange Group on Horticultural Therapy's Phoenix Garden project oversaw the construction of a new greenhouse in the prison yard and now provides weekly training sessions inside HMP in an arts-based mindfulness and gardening curriculum.
  • A working group of the Research Exchange Groups on Human-Animal Interaction & Wellness and on Aging is establishing an ElderDog Canada chapter in NL.  ElderDog is a volunteer-based program that will support the health of seniors and their canine companions.
  • The Research Exchange Groups on Palliative Care and on Indigenous Health helped to inform a new Pallium Canada Research Project in 2021 that will enhance Palliative Care for Indigenous Peoples in Labrador and Newfoundland.
  • A Master's of Public Health Practicum Student from Memorial University worked with the conveners of the Research Exchange Group on Arts and Health to develop a Compendium of Arts and Health reseach and programming for the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. 
  • A working group of the Research Exchange Group on Aging met for eight years to plan and develop the province’s first Aging Research Centre (ARC-NL) which opened at Memorial’s Grenfell Campus in 2018 to support community-engaged research on aging.
  • At a meeting of the group on harm reduction, community workers connected with government officials and initiated a collaboration that led to the development of the provincial naloxone program to reduce harms from opioid overdose.
  • A consultation between government officials and the Research Exchange Group on Aging helped to identify the criteria and qualifications for the first Seniors' Advocate for Newfoundland and Labrador and to identify key areas of the mandate for the Office of the Seniors' Advocate for this province.
  • A Master's of Public Health Practicum student connected with the Research Exchange Group on Service Learning and Community Engagement to develop an online portal on the NLCAHR website that connects research and community partners.
  • Connections forged through the group on palliative care led to researchers from Memorial University engaging with four small communities where they will train volunteer navigators to provide support, education, and connection to community and health resources for isolated seniors living with chronic illness.
  • Engagement among members of the Service Learning and Community Engagement (SLICE) group led to inviting Memorial University medical students to the Workin’ It Training Fair at Her Majesty’s Penitentiary where they gained insights on how employment impacts health, met community career and employment staff and learned about services available to inmates after release.
  • The group on Indigenous Health has connected people in small Labrador communities to research on topics that matter to them, including mental health services, ethical considerations for respectful community research, Indigenous scholarship on the experiences of two-spirited people, and participatory research on climate change at the Labrador Institute.

  • The Research Exchange Group on Aging helped develop and launch a sexual health manual: https://gazette.mun.ca/public-engagement/best-sex-in-years/

  •  The Research Exchange Group on Human Animal Interaction provides evidence and support for animal-assisted therapies: https://gazette.mun.ca/public-engagement/a-healthy-interest/

  • An update at one of the meetings about a community job fair at the penitentiary planted the seed of a partnership between the Community Employment Collaboration and medical students at Memorial to develop the Opioid Awareness Support Team.