A research project to improve dementia diagnosis and treatment began with a $2.5-million offer from an Oak Bay couple looking for answers.
With their donation, Neil and Susan Manning have launched a five-year Cognitive Health Initiative in a first-time research partnership between Island Health, the University of Victoria, and the University of B.C.’s Island Medical Program. The project was announced Thursday at Royal Jubilee Hospital.
“When a cognitive health illness impacted our family and we began to understand this issue, we realized that while much research had been done, there is still so much more to do to solve the riddles around cognitive diseases,” said Neil Manning, who moved to the Island from Edmonton with his wife in 2012.
His wife’s forgetfulness began with the usual, textbook things, Manning said. She was diagnosed with dementia just over two years ago.
The Mannings didn’t go into hiding, but rather reached out to health professionals in Greater Victoria in a bid to help others. Over the past 18 months, the breadth and significance of the initiative grew bigger and grander than the couple, who have been married for 36 years, had anticipated.
“The original idea was that this was going to be a small research project,” Manning said.
The project will track Vancouver Island dementia patients, essentially clustering patient symptoms, treatment plans and outcomes and putting them in a central digital database.
The Dementia Guidance System database will learn to understand individual patients, said Kristine Votava, the initiative’s project director.
Over time, the tools will be available for use by family physicians to assist with early diagnosis and care across Vancouver Island, which is seeing a “rising tide” of dementia cases.
Dr. Bruce Wright, UBC’s regional associate dean for the Island Medical Program, said physicians who have clinical appointments with the program will be some of the first to be equipped with clinical tools created through the project.
“This will build Island Health’s capacity in the area of cognitive health,” Wright said.
As well, the research gathered will provide a template of best practices to educate the next generation of Island health-care providers, he said.
University of Victoria president Jamie Cassels said the donation created an exceptional opportunity to advance health research collaborations on Vancouver Island.
“The initiative announced [Thursday] will see University of Victoria researchers, Island medical professionals, and Island Medical Program educators and students working together as teams on cognitive health research,” Cassels said.
“These teams will strive to incorporate their learning into practice so that those living with a cognitive health disorder can see the benefit of this research much more rapidly.”
The project is also expected to help leverage future research dollars and education in spinoff benefits.
“You needed something of this scope and scale to attract more research dollars,” Manning said.
The donation comes through the Victoria Hospitals Foundation, which funnels donations to Victoria’s two largest hospitals for medical equipment and projects.
