Canadian Intensive Care Week: Oct 23-29
Message from Dr. Brian H. Rowe, Scientific Director, CIHR Institute of Circulatory and Respiratory Health
Canadian Intensive Care Week, October 23 to 29, is a time to reflect on the importance of our ICUs and the incredible work that health care professionals do there. As an emergency physician, I have witnessed first-hand the importance of inter-disciplinary coordination across the care journey for patients with critical illness and the dedication and skill of the staff in hospital ICUs. I understand that it takes long hours, hard work, and emotional fortitude. During the COVID-19 pandemic, health care staff have been more strained than at any other time in recent history. Research is part of the solution to these problems —research to better understand how to improve the health care system and find new ways to address urgent health challenges.
October 29 also marks World Stroke Day, bringing public awareness to the high rates of stroke and the essential measures needed to improve stroke prevention, treatment, and recovery. Reflecting this, CIHR is currently funding research into new ways of preventing stroke using pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions, improving diagnosis by advancing MRI and other imaging methods, optimizing treatments and examining novel treatments such as stem cell therapy, and improving patient recovery following stroke.