Patient Partner Highlight | Joanie Cranston
I am a physiotherapist and the owner/operator of Cottage Hospital Physiotherapy and Fitness Inc. I have lived and worked in Norris Point since 1988; for many of those years at the old Bonne Bay Cottage Hospital, both in its former life as a cottage hospital, and in its current incarnation as a social enterprise incubation centre. I volunteer as the coordinator for the Bonne Bay Cottage Hospital Heritage Corporation which has owned and operated the centre since 2001. Our mission is the adaptive reuse of the old cottage hospital for the preservation of culture and heritage, the promotion of health and wellness, and community economic and social development.
As a patient, I am blessed to have suffered with chronic pain from hip arthritis; I have learned so much to help inform my professional practice as well as to help me understand the views of others who suffer with pain. I was fortunate to have benefitted from excellent surgical care and to have regained my mobility and my health. As a caregiver, I have dealt with issues ranging from anorexia and anxiety, to addictions, and to aging in place and dying with dignity.
I strongly believe that community-based research and social enterprise are critical elements in rural vitality and sustainability, as well as the future of health care. I am in the process of working with a dedicated group of volunteers in Port aux Choix to set up an interdisciplinary “Community Place” which will offer access to health services and wellness resources, and will operate as a social enterprise. We are working with a variety of partners to make this dream a reality. I am interested in learning from anyone who has experience in this area.
I also believe in the value of community/university research partnerships. The GNP Research Collective was formed to provide support to the GNP Community Place and has done much to strengthen the project in a variety of ways — by providing access to knowledge and expertise in the field, by facilitating access to a network of national and international researchers, and by offering credibility to an idea that is new to provincial funders and policy-makers.
I am currently working with a group of Patient and Community Advisors to establish the “Starting with Ourselves” community-based research program. Lack of knowledge of, and lack of timely access to, relevant personal health data is a barrier to patients in their ability to make informed health decisions. This project hopes to provide coaching and education to assist people to track and understand their health data that is relevent to them (such as blood pressure, blood sugar etc.)
I have been involved in many professional associations both provincially and nationally and am currently a member of the NL SUPPORT Patient Advisory Council as well as the Primary and Integrated Health Care Innovations Network’s (PIHCIN) Pan Canadian Patient Council. These councils are both part of the Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR) of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). I first heard about the NL SUPPORT Patient Advisory Council through my involvement with the NL Rural Secretariat. I am very proud to be part of an organization that represents patient voices and points of view in health research, and I am happy to have the opportunity to bring views and perspectives of rural communities to the table. With the dedicated support of skilled staff members, the council has evolved over time to become a valuable resource for both patients and researchers. One of the main challenges of being involved is choosing between the many opportunities for involvement.
I have been involved with the Pan-Canadian Patient Council since its inception in 2019. It is a privilege to have a chance to collaborate with such a diverse and experienced group of patient partners and researchers; to view issues through a national lens, to help to establish research priorities for the PIHCIN and to learn about international research projects.
There is hope for the future of health care when it is informed by the work of patients collaborating with researchers and clinicians.
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