First Round of Solutions Grants Awarded

The $12 million Alberta Contribution included $2 million set aside as the Alberta SCI Solutions Fund. Grant policies and proceedures are now in place and the first round of grants have been awarded: a total of $244,991 for 31 grants for the period April 2009 to September 2009.  Twenty grants were awarded to individuals - totalling $84,936 or 35%.

2008/2009 Overview - Engaging Communities in Finding Solutions

Through RHF leadership, the Alberta SCI Initiative strives to engage communities in finding solutions through three programs:

• the Rick Hansen Wheels In Motion community fund-raising events
• the Rick Hansen Ambassador program, and
• the Rick Hansen School Program (Kids In Motion, Awards, Resources). 

Click on the link below to find out more about these programs.

Letter from Rick Hansen reflecting on first full year of the Alberta SCI Initiative

Dear Friends,


The Man In Motion World Tour was first inspired by the dream that things could and would be different for people with disabilities. The Alberta Spinal Cord Injury Solutions Alliance (“Alliance”) supports this dream, and since 2007 has worked to make a difference for the approximately 4000 Albertans who live with a spinal cord injury.

2009/2010 Plans and Priorities

Each year, The ADF prepares a business plan for those components of the Alberta SCI Initiative that it is responsible for.  The 2009/2010 Plan commits to the following:

• two rounds of Solutions Fund grants, each allocating approximately $250,000 (awards in August 2009 and January 2010)
• leveraging a $20,000 allocation from the Solutions Fund to an emergency response fund (for an aggregate of $50,000)
• allocating up to 15% of the Solutions Fund for directed investments (ie driver education in Southern Alberta, search for best practice related to inclusive communities/universal design)
• round 1 allocation of Active Living Grants, up to $200,000
• work with SCISN/RHF, CPA and Wheelchair Sports to build synergy between the peer and Ambassador programs in Alberta
• work with SCISN/RHF to rationalize and further coordinate development of RHWIM teams, local solutions teams, and the roles of CPA counselors, service coordinators and community developers
• work with SCISN and stakeholders to further our understanding of the Solutions Model and to learn from experience with the model in other parts of Canada - establish a formal pilot in Edmonton
• allocate $2.5 million in grants for support of Alberta SCI Translational Research and Infrastructure, and support for Alberta SCI researcher development
• complete the 'front end' of the Alberta SCI Strategy - vision, principles, models/frameworks, strategies and priorities
• develop and begin to implement a Communications Strategy or Plan
• establish formalized working relationships with related solutions teams or alliances in other provinces and territories - including promotion of the concept of a National Advisory Council to the SCISN as proposed in various national strategic plans to date - comprised of the chairs of each provincial/territorial solutions team or alliance
• finalize accountability strutures and systems - including a performance measurement framework and related monitoring processes and measurement tools
• work with SCISN/RHF on the Collaborative Resource Development Strategy that has been referred to in various national planning documents.

An SCI Strategy for Alberta

A portion of the Alberta Contribution was protected for creation of an SCI Strategy for Alberta.  This strategic plan will:

• inform decision making processes related to the $12 million fund
• identify additional priorities of critical importance to Albertans living with SCI, and
• engage the entire SCI community (researchers, service providers and people with SCI) in the process of addressing identified priorities.

The planning process will build on rather than duplicate related planning initiatives.  We will leverage learnings from:

• stakeholder discussions that generated the Alberta Proposal - 'Going Forward Together'
• business planning for the Alberta SCI Initiative
• earlier efforts such as the Neurotrauma Initiative and the SCI Collaboration
• strategic plans and priorities of CPA (Alberta), WheelChair Sports and others
• recommendations contained in cross-disability reports and plans: the Premier's Council on the Status of Persons with Disabilities, the Alberta Disabilities Forum.

The process is divided into two main parts.  The first works at a high level to develop vision, principles, overall strategies and models/frameworks.  It also creates consensus on the four to six priority unmet needs of Albertans with SCI.  This work will be reviewed at a Stakeholder Forum in March 2010 (prior to moving on to phase two).  The second phase essentially creates an action plan for each of the priorities identified in the first phase.

Progress on phase 1 in 2009 includes:

• project organization and the appointment of a Steering Committee
• key informant interviews with approximately 50 individuals
• an extensive literature review conducted by ADF staff
• the first round of a DELPHI study to develop consensus on priorities
• initial work on vision, principles, overall strategies and models/frameworks.

For more information, please contact Heather Lissel (Project Coordinator) working at the Secretariat in the offices of CPA (Alberta).

Progress on Alberta SCI Research Grants

The Alberta Contribution provided funding to leverage research excellence in Alberta by sharing resources and building national linkages to accelerate translation of new knowedge into best practices.  $480,000 was dedicated to supporting Alberta participation in the RH SCI Registry (see separate post).  $1,500,000 was dedicated to Alberta Researcher Development.  A further $1,000,000 was protected to support Alberta participation in the Canada-wide network of researchers, clinicians and scientists to improve functional recovery and qualiyt of life of people with SCI.

An Alberta SCI Research Team has been formed to advise The Alberta Paraplegic Foundation on investment of these funds.

The intent is to allocate all of the $2,500,000 for researcher development and Alberta specific projects by the end of the 2009/2010 fiscal year.  Progress to date is summarized below:

• criteria were developed to establish an appropriate threshold of excellence for translational research, the basis for review of submissions for support
• a request for letters of intent was issued in July 2009
• on September 11, 2009 a formal meeting of the Alberta SCI Research Team was held to review letters of intent - 19 were submitted
• 12 of the applicants were invited to submit full proposals.

The full proposals will be reviewed early in 2010 and allocation decisions made by the end of March.  Successful projects will be monitored over the two year period 2010 and 2011, with impact evaluation conducted in 2012.

Alberta Participating in the National RH SCI Registry

Key Objective: Support the RHF in its efforts to gather detailed information about the health status and quality of life of Albertans living with SCI and to make these data available in a format that protects individual privacy and informs research.


A primary focus of the SCISN is the development of a research infrastructure. The Rick Hansen Spinal Cord Injury Registry (RHSCIR) is a fundamental component of this strategy that provides invaluable information by tracking, storing and relating data about clinical treatments provided to people with SCI. This information can be used by researchers and clinicians to better understand the impact and effectiveness of specific medical interventions over the course of an individual’s lifetime.

As the Registry grows, the data collected will help to establish and validate best practices that will ultimately provide better outcomes for individuals with SCI, help improve quality of life and lead to a cure for SCI in the future. The Registry currently has active sites in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia. Additional sites in Saskatchewan and Newfoundland are in the planning stages.

There is an Executive Scientific Committee which leads the project. Dr. John Hurlbert from the Foothills Hospital in Calgary is a member.

The RHSCIR currently has over 700 registered participants from across Canada. Data sharing agreements are in place in Alberta with the Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary (acute care and rehabilitation programs), the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital in Edmonton, the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton (acute care), and the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton (acute care). Due to issues with arranging funding, the project has been stalled in both Calgary and Edmonton since starting in 2005/2006; Calgary has enrolled 93 cases; Edmonton has enrolled 42 to date.

New coordinators have been appointed in both Calgary and Edmonton. A formal data sharing agreement was signed with Calgary and funding provided for two years. It is anticipated that data sharing and funding agreements will be signed in Edmonton in early 2009/2010.

Currently, the RHSCIR is registering individuals who suffer a traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) and are admitted to a participating health care site in Canada. Information is only collected on those individuals who voluntarily give their informed consent. With agreements in place, data collection should be more consistent between acute care and rehabilitation. Communication between these two areas has improved and the national operations group is able to provide better support and direction. All of this should lead to increased enrolment in the project.

Future plans include sharing the data collected thus far with the national operations group so that a baseline can be created. A web-based platform is expected to be completed in 2010.

The RHSCIR contains:

• Patient Identification and Linking Data
• Demographic/Socio - Economic Data
• Diagnostic Data
• Procedural Data
• Treatment Data
• Outcome Data (i.e. quality of life)