From the new offices of the Nova Scotia Health Innovation Hub, perched on the 13th floor of the Nova Scotia Centre, it’s easy to see Citadel Hill, the Dartmouth waterfront, and all the way out the Halifax Harbour to the Atlantic Ocean. That ability to see clearly, in so many directions, is an apt metaphor for the central job requirement for staff here at the Hub.
They’re setting out to take the over 40,000-person-strong Nova Scotia Health, the largest employer in the province, and, as Dr. Gail Tomblin Murphy puts it, “change the way we currently operate.”
“We can’t keep doing the same thing and expect different outcomes,” says Tomblin Murphy. “That’s why it’s an urgent, full court press towards innovation. Whether that’s digital health, what we’re doing in cancer care, chronic disease management, robotics, or artificial intelligence, we’re going to bring the best people from across the province and around the world and put them together…and scale those ideas up.”
That urgency is driven in part by a system that is in crisis across the country, marked by long wait times for emergency care, overcrowding in ERs, and an understaffed, overburdened workforce. It’s also driven by Nova Scotia’s success: people are moving here. The province’s population is growing five times faster than ever before. But that growth is placing higher and higher demands on the healthcare system.
Health and Wellness Minister Michelle Thompson acknowledges, “Our frontline staff are tired. They’re stretched. They need help. But they are resilient. And many of the projects the Hub takes on are inspired by those very same people.”
“Nurses. Doctors. Paramedics. Community partners. They’ve got the best ideas about what will work, and what won’t work, to improve the system,” says Thompson. “As a nurse, that’s what makes me the most proud: that we’re collaborating with frontline people to bring real solutions, real change.”
With 75 innovation partners already, it’s clear the Hub has become a beacon for people eager to turn their ideas into realitiy. The Hub is bringing together innovators, researchers, and industry partners – through support, networks, and now a big, bright new space – to facilitate transformative change. The team’s mandate is basically to do more, and do it faster: whether that’s accelerating clinical trials, testing and trying new technologies, or launching market-ready healthcare solutions. Staff are here to help: help connect new ideas to funding, help open doors, help scale up.
“The staff at the Innovation Hub have been wonderful,” says Courtney McPhee, a registered nurse and part of the Melior Motus team helping to develop a novel device that simplifies moving patients into a prone position. “They've been helping us by supporting nurses as we train them.”
McPhee goes on: “They've been gathering feedback – tracking what went well, what didn't go well, going with us from site to site to assist in training, and supporting a wider rollout. They've been with us from Cape Breton to Yarmouth.”
Founded by intensive care physician and educator Dr. Stephen Beed, Melior Motus has created a device that wraps snugly around a patient, allowing a three-person team to pronate a patient (for prone ventilation and head checks) in under five minutes – an action that often requires five to seven people, and might take half an hour. It’s a solution that’s faster, easier, helps avoid nursing injuries (50% of which are related to moving patients), and allows for more frequent prone ventilation care – and that means better outcomes for patients.
‘Faster,’ ‘easier,’ and ‘more widely-used’ are words that can be heard frequently walking through the wide-open spaces and past the many meeting rooms at the Hub, where 12 companies have taken up residence to be close to the action. It’s easy to see why: they’re within earshot of world-class researchers, other thriving homegrown start-ups, and a team of people at the Hub dedicated to helping their ideas make a big impact on healthcare outcomes.
“Nova Scotia is certainly gaining attention,” says Tomblin Murphy. “People are noticing us and wondering, what is our secret? I can tell you what it is. Partnerships. We prioritize people and partners. We bring the right minds to the table quickly. We know how to mobilize: right people, right place…right results.”
So, how do these partners first get in the door? What makes the team at the Hub get behind a new initiative, and say ‘let’s do this’? Executive Director Cameron Campbell frames it this way: “There are a few important questions we ask, like: ‘Is this something novel? Is this something we need, i.e. does it address a defined problem in the system? Is there data to support that we're actually going to have an impact? Is there a clinical champion, i.e. someone in the system that is looking for this solution?”
At the Hub’s official opening, Premier Tim Houston beamed as he talked about the Hub’s goal. He said: “It’s about nurturing the best ideas at home. And around the world. It’s about working together, to put the best and brightest ideas into action, for patients. It’s about attracting brilliant healthcare leaders. It's no longer business as usual: it’s doing more, and doing it faster.”
Karen Oldfield smiled, adding: “I’ll keep it short: The Hub is where dreams come true.”
