Media releases

• Brock gives back with scholarships to 66 Niagara high school grads

  Thursday, May 18, 2023 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: May 18 2023 – R0043

  When Nima Abadinezhad’s family immigrated to Canada from Iran two years ago, they did so with his education in mind.

  The Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School student has since worked hard to achieve his goal of attending university, which will become a reality in September when he begins in Brock’s Computer Science program.

  Abadinezhad’s efforts saw him recognized as one of 66 recipients of Brock’s Niagara Principal’s Scholarships, which were presented during a reception hosted by the University on Wednesday, May 17.

  For the eighth consecutive year, the University has presented the $2,500 entrance scholarships to two graduating students from nearly every public, Catholic and private secondary school in the Niagara region. This year’s awards total $165,000.

  Recipients are selected by principals from each high school based on a combination of academic achievements, school and community involvement, and financial need.

  For Abadinezhad, whose family faced hardships when they immigrated to Canada, the scholarship will have a significant impact.

  He says his parents had to made big sacrifices, essentially starting from scratch, to begin a new life in a new country.

  “This scholarship is going to help me a lot in terms of my future plans,” Abadinezhad says, adding the award has affirmed for his parents that the move has opened the door to new opportunities. “They can see that I’m growing here, that I’m happy, have a future, and that I’m also going to a good university.”

  The Principal’s Scholarship program, which has offered more than $1.3 million in funding to local high school graduates since its inception in 2015, is just one of the many ways in which Brock invests in the future of Niagara, says President and Vice-Chancellor Lesley Rigg.

  “Brock has proudly served as Niagara’s university for nearly 60 years and is committed to giving back to the region and its bright young minds,” Rigg says. “The Principal’s Scholarship recipients have already shined academically and through their community involvement, and we look forward to all that they will accomplish during their time at Brock and beyond.”

  The reception held to honour the recipients welcomed the students alongside their families, principals, teachers and guidance counsellors, who came together with Brock representatives to celebrate their accomplishments.

  In addition to being individually recognized at the ceremony, scholarship recipients were gifted an awards box filled with Brock University gear and items to get their post-secondary experience off on the right foot.

  “Each year, we look forward to honouring the outstanding students chosen to receive the Niagara Principal’s Scholarships,” says Matt Melnyk, Director, Student Recruitment. “The reception is an opportunity for us to not only celebrate their achievements in the local community and in their respective schools, but also to set the stage for their future success at Brock, where we’re confident they will continue to excel.”

  Recipients of the 2023 Niagara Principal’s Scholarships:

  • Isabella Berardi, A.N. Myer Secondary School
  • Payton Thomson, A.N. Myer Secondary School
  • Anjelica Mercey, Blessed Trinity Catholic School
  • Cassie Corbett, Blessed Trinity Catholic School
  • Anderson Cecchini, Denis Morris Catholic High School
  • Mateya Scalzi, Denis Morris Catholic High School
  • Sam Parlatore, Denis Morris Catholic High School
  • Aisha El Sahli, DSBN Academy
  • Sandra Lee, DSBN Academy
  • Lucas Motola, E. L. Crossley Secondary School
  • Jinja Shepherd, E. L. Crossley Secondary School
  • Carl Ferma, Eastdale Secondary School
  • Somaa Hamadamin, Eastdale Secondary School
  • Chiara Rathee, Eden High School
  • Tasneem Elatresh, Eden High School
  • Noha Nahli, Franco-Niagara Secondary School
  • Gavin Petri, Governor Simcoe Secondary School
  • Riley Campbell, Governor Simcoe Secondary School
  • Ellie May, Great Lakes Christian High School
  • Sadie Kennedy, Great Lakes Christian High School
  • Alazaya Collee, Greater Fort Erie Secondary School
  • Jesselyn Misner, Greater Fort Erie Secondary School
  • Jacob Dekorte, Heritage Christian School
  • Lauren Dejong, Heritage Christian School
  • Laura Avila, Holy Cross Catholic Secondary School
  • Olivia MacLean, Holy Cross Catholic Secondary School
  • Nicole Otten, Jordan Christian School
  • Charis Farr, Jordan Christian School
  • Ben Morin, Lakeshore Catholic High School
  • Zoey Snider, Lakeshore Catholic High School
  • Ellie Warren, Laura Secord Secondary School
  • Sydney Robbs, Laura Secord Secondary School
  • Leila Bauer, Lifetime Learning Centre
  • Kaitlin McNulty, Lifetime Learning Centre
  • Emily Lockwood, Niagara Christian Collegiate
  • Alexa Osorio, Niagara Christian Collegiate
  • Ethan Mullins, Notre Dame College School
  • Katelin Oussoren, Notre Dame College School
  • Darien Gauthier, Port Colborne High School
  • Emma Laur, Port Colborne High School
  • Samuel Howe, Ridley College
  • Omar Abuhmeidan, Royal Imperial Collegiate of Canada
  • Jack Oosterveer, Saint Francis Catholic Secondary School
  • Jadyne Flores, Saint Francis Catholic Secondary School
  • Abby Critelli, Saint Michael Catholic High School
  • Ethan Kelly, Saint Michael Catholic High School
  • Briar Grant, Saint Paul Catholic High School
  • Julia De Prophetis, Saint Paul Catholic High School
  • Anika York, Saint-Jean-de-Brébeuf
  • Lauren Corbeil, Saint-Jean-de-Brébeuf
  • Nima Abadinezhad, Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School
  • Victoria Misener, Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School
  • Eleanor Lee, Smithville Christian High School
  • Laurel Graham, Smithville Christian High School
  • Mark Hallihan, St. Catharines Collegiate
  • Saffwan Chowdhury, St. Catharines Collegiate
  • Sydney Cruz, Stamford Collegiate
  • Jack Clarke, Stamford Collegiate
  • Grace Sargeant, Thorold Secondary School
  • Jenna Davies, Thorold Secondary School
  • Melissa Mazurkiewicz, Welland Centennial Secondary School
  • Nico D’Amelio, Welland Centennial Secondary School
  • Mackenzie Topp, West Niagara Secondary School
  • Milena Gallant, West Niagara Secondary School
  • Smith Schedler, Westlane Secondary School
  • Jacob Dempsey, Westlane Secondary School

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Doug Hunt, Communications and Media Relations Specialist, Brock University dhunt2@brocku.ca or 905-941-6209

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  Categories: Media releases

• Brock research explores factors keeping long-term ‘alternate level of care’ patients in hospital

  Tuesday, May 16, 2023 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: May 16 2023 – R0042

  It’s a scene repeated all too frequently: a patient remains in hospital long after they’ve been successfully treated because there’s nowhere for them to go where they’ll be safe and cared for.

  Quinten Carfagnini wanted to know who undergoes this experience and why.

  Through a collaboration between Brock University’s Goodman School of Business, the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences and Niagara Health, Carfagnini conducted research on the factors keeping non-acute patients in hospital for more than 30 days.

  “These patients are done with their care, but they’re stuck in the bed that they’re in, which is obviously unfortunate because those who do require treatment need to be able to get into that bed,” says the Health Sciences PhD student.

  Carfagnini and his team collected information from the Ontario Wait Time Information System (WTIS) database on more than 16,000 alternate level of care (ALC) patients who received care in Niagara Health hospitals from September 2014 to September 2019.

  ALC patients are defined as being those “who occupy a bed but do not require the intensity of services provided in that care setting.”

  Carfagnini and his team’s research, published at the end of March, found long-stay ALC patients were more likely to be:

  • male
  • destined for long-term care facilities and supervised or assisted living rather than being sent home
  • requiring specialized bariatric equipment such as lifts, custom doors and heavily braced ceilings
  • requiring specialized feeding services, such as the use of gastric tubes or IVs
  • patients who had expressed physically or verbally disruptive behaviours and may require supports designed to help them with challenging behaviours
  • requiring isolation, in some cases, because they have a specific infection, such as methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus

  “The longest wait times were for those trying to be discharged to long-term care facilities, which previous research has shown,” says Carfagnini. “Our study looked at more personalized patient requirements, such as bariatric or psychological needs that they may require at their discharge destination.”

  Elaina Orlando, Research Manager at Niagara Health (NH) and Adjunct Professor in Brock’s Department of Health Sciences, says the backlog of ALC patients is a “complex problem” involving many stakeholders in health-care systems that are stretched for resources.

  “Quinten’s research has given us a different lens on our particular population experiencing this situation,” she says. “We have this clearer picture of who is in our hospital system and in our beds, and that gives us new ways to think about potential solutions within our control to change as an organization.”

  Professor of Epidemiology Brent Faught, Carfagnini’s supervisor, notes how the research follows legislation passed last year by the Ontario government. Bill 7, More Beds, Better Care Act, 2022 empowers hospitals to transfer ALC patients to a long-term care home that the hospital sources. Patients face a $400 per day fine if they refuse to leave the hospital.

  He says the research partnership enables Niagara Health and Brock to come up with local measures that address the province-wide problem of a shortage of hospital beds.

  “This research and partnership give us a stronger voice in terms of what is actually happening within our own community,” says Faught.

  This Brock-NH partnership is one of the community-engaged research projects to come out of the Goodman School of Business’s Centre for Business Analytics (CBA). The CBA also created a service-learning initiative that connects students and faculty with external partners, including Niagara Health.

  Carfagnini, who also did his Master of Science under Faught’s supervision, had access to data and personnel at NH during his studies. Faught and Associate Professor of Health Sciences Madelyn Law collaborated with CBA’s founding director Anteneh Ayanso on how to further this Niagara Health research.

  Ayanso says he and the team “knew immediately the big opportunity” there was to uncover trends in the “massive” datasets that would help health-care professionals deal with challenges around long-term hospital stays.

  “A partnership like this is so exciting because you hear directly from the people who work with the problem,” says the Professor of Information Systems. He says students such as Carfagnini are able to experience how data analytics theories in the literature make an impact in real life situations.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Doug Hunt, Communications and Media Relations Specialist, Brock University dhunt2@brocku.ca or 905-941-6209 

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  Categories: Media releases