OAKVILLE, Ontario, Nov. 25, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BestLifeRewarded Innovations (BLRI) is proud to announce a new collaboration with Baycrest, a global leader in geriatric residential living, aging and brain health, to increase preventative and self-care behaviours for family caregivers. This offering to be made available as part of Baycrest@Home has been awarded a 2019 Spark grant from the Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation, a Toronto-based solution accelerator for the aging and brain health sector.
Baycrest@Home is the first program of its type to prioritize the needs of family caregivers looking after older adults with dementia, bringing support tools and programming backed by science to caregivers in the community. Launching in the new year, this Spark funded initiative will support caregivers with a plug and play behavioural incentive tool, BestLifeRewarded. The BestLifeRewarded platform can be utilized 24/7 and provide access to health assessments and trackers, and a robust reporting dashboard to closely and accurately support this research initiative.
Fueled by a proven evidence-based framework through BestLifeRewarded, this venture serves as a special niche for both teams. The BLRI and Baycrest collaboration will build on research offering to tackle the ongoing challenge of prioritizing personal self-care measures. In addition, both teams will have access to valuable metrics that capture health behaviours among caregivers of varying demographics.
“The Baycrest team has extensive experience and a strong track record in developing evidence-based, innovative interventions with older adults and caregivers,” says Dr. Adriana Shnall, Program Director, of Baycrest@Home. “Through this project, and through partnering with BestLifeRewarded, we hope that we can continue to support caregivers so that they can continue to look after their loved ones in the community.”
In bringing the convenience of self-care to this high-risk population, BestLifeRewarded sets out to support Baycrest in the ongoing proactive health-promotion initiatives required to make a change in the community. BLR wellness programming is tailored to each individual, taking both personal motivators and HRA findings into account. The result is true wellness—where people fulfill their needs, not just their likes. The platform is designed to demonstrate that integrating a number of proven behaviour change models has a better health effect than using any one of them alone. Since the inception of the BLR program, hundreds of thousands of health assessment data records have been collected. The data demonstrates the proprietary BLR platform is leading to positive behaviour change. Members self-reported a significant improvement in modifiable risk factors between baseline and reassessment. Improvements were seen in key risk factors important to overall health.
“BestLifeRewarded is a proven solution that connects and appreciates participants’ intrinsic motivators to inspire health behaviour change,” says Cynthia Hastings-James, co-founder of BestLifeRewarded Innovations. “We now look forward to applying our best practices exclusively to the caregiver population. Caregivers are often neglected in the healthcare system. It’s time we bring this issue forward to create sustainable behaviour change among the caregiver community.”
About BestLifeRewarded Innovations
BestLifeRewarded is a health behaviour change system. BLRI gives employers or organizational leaders the opportunity to take a proactive role in managing the wellness of their employees by providing resources and programs centered on overall well-being. BestLifeRewarded supports over 12,000 Canadian companies and more than 4 million Canadians and growing. With over 10 years experience in proven behavioural breakthroughs, BLRI has been recognized globally for its evidence-informed innovation in health behaviour change. For more information on BestLifeRewarded Innovations, please visit www.bestliferewarded.com
About Baycrest@Home
Baycrest@Home prepares and supports family caregivers of older adults experiencing declining cognitive health using technology to connect caregivers with specialized expertise and services that help keep family members safe, engaged, and healthy. Baycrest@Home is a service of Baycrest, a global leader in geriatric residential living, healthcare, research, innovation and education, with a special focus on brain health and aging. As an academic health sciences centre fully affiliated with the University of Toronto, Baycrest provides an exemplary care experience for aging clients combined with an extensive clinical training program for students and one of the world’s top research institutes in cognitive neuroscience. For more information on Baycrest@Home, please visit https://programs.baycrestathome.ca
Media contacts:
Cynthia Hastings-James
BestLifeRewarded Innovations
905-336-1000
cynthia@bestliferewarded.com
Simon Cheesman
Baycrest
416-785-2500 ext. 6181
SCheesman@baycrest.org
Michelle Petch Gotuzzo
Baycrest
416-785-2500 ext. 6932
MPetchGotuzzo@baycrest.org