UNBC researchers are partnering with the Ministry of Health and two other B.C. interior universities to conduct research on the impacts of COVID-19 and help mitigate its impact.
The B.C. Ministry of Health provided $150,000 for the initiative to the Interior University Research Coalition – a partnership of UNBC, Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops and UBC's Okanagan campus in Kelowna.
"We have quite a large number of very capable researchers and we've partnered with the other institutions to enhance that," UNBC acting vice-president of research Dr. Kathy Lewis said. "We are relatively nimble to respond to thing that happen in our community."
UNBC professors will be taking part in five projects funded through the initiative.
UNBC nursing associate professor Shannon Freeman has partnered with TRU computer scientist Piper Jackson to develop a COVID-19 risk assessment tool to identify homecare patients who are at greatest risk from the virus.
The tool will help identify those at risk without requiring staff to physically go into people's homes to assess them, Lewis said. They should be able to quickly get the tool developed and into the hands of clinicians in the province, she added.
UNBC professor Hossein Kazemain will be working with a team at UBC's school of engineering to improve the useful life of N95 medical masks.
UNBC's Rahul Jain will be working with professors from TRU and UBC to examine if new technologies are improving the resiliency of rural healthcare practitioners.
Researcher Davina Banner-Lukaris is part a project looking at impact the pandemic has had on the mental health and wellbeing of rural residents.
And several UNBC researchers will be part of a project led by UBC's Southern Medical Program to create a student-delivered community outreach tele-health program to engage with rural seniors.
“These projects are fantastic examples of what’s possible when researchers from across the B.C. Interior come together and seek solutions to pressing public health concerns," Lewis said.
