Suzanne Dupuis-Blanchard is a leading gerontology scholar and expert on healthy aging and aging in place. Along with over 30 years of experience as a nurse and professor-researcher working with community-dwelling older adults, she is the founder of Nursing Home Without Walls (NHWW), an innovative, made-in-New-Brunswick model that helps older adults age in place by providing assistance accessing services. A collaborative partnership with older adults, family caregivers, nursing home administrators, key stakeholders, non-profit organizations and provincial and municipal governments, NHWW helps fill the gaps in service delivery while its social health initiatives counter isolation and loneliness. By connecting older adults to information and services, a third of participants avoided a non-urgent visit to the emergency department or an after-hours clinic. And 100% of participants reported that they would recommend NHWW.

See the art piece made by Shaghayegh Radmehr for the Public Sector Award for Innovation Winner here.