New Brunswick’s Innovation Champion: Dr. Jalila Jbilou Leads the World’s Only Truck Driver Health Clinic

Photo courtesy of Dr. Jalila Jbilou

Dr. Jalila Jbilou, a public health specialist and professor at Université de Moncton and the Centre de formation médicale du Nouveau-Brunswick, saw a critical gap in preventive care and decided to bridge it. She created TH@CLINIC, the first model of virtual primary care tailored specifically for professional truck drivers in New Brunswick, and elsewhere in the world. This platform connects truck drivers with an interdisciplinary team that remotely monitors their health, ensuring timely access to services and vital information to prevent health deterioration and complications before they escalate.

Due to their demanding schedules and time constraints, only 1 in 2 truckers have access to regular primary care. These essential workers have a life expectancy that is 17 years shorter compared to the general population. The main risk factors are related to preventable and treatable chronic diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, hyperlipidemia, and coronaropathies. These chronic diseases are 2 to 3 times more prevalent among truckers compared to the general population.

“There’s not much being done in family medicine about prevention for truck drivers,” Dr. Jalila Jbilou explains. “So, I started looking at how to develop primary care models in which prevention plays a very important part.”

Dr. Jalila Jbilou, founder of TH@CLINIC, accepts the Innovation Champion Award at the InnovateNB Awards

TH@CLINIC is a service that features a wide range of personalized and integrated medical care and preventive interventions based on truck drivers’ needs, such as nurses, occupational therapists, social workers, dieticians, diabetes educators, and more.  Truckers are equipped with wearables, including a smartwatch, which gathers real-time data and monitors their health behaviors. Nurses have access to this data, allowing them to assess risk factors and intervene when necessary. Meanwhile, the collected data enables the development of an innovative niche in artificial intelligence and machine learning, focused on creating an algorithm for risk categorization and delivering tailored advice. After a 12-month follow-up, the TH@CLINIC approach is demonstrating improvement in chronic diseases by 40 to 70% for truckers living with diabetes, obesity or high blood pressure. Additionally, TH@CLINIC demonstrated a decrease in emergency visits by 50 to 67%.

Dr. Jalila Jbilou’s clinic won her the Innovation Champion Award at the InnovateNB Awards, an award that recognizes the efforts of an individual who has demonstrated a commitment to innovation and made a positive impact in the province. InnovateNB is an annual event that celebrates New Brunswick innovators and their outstanding contributions to the technology and innovation ecosystem.

Hon. Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Member of Parliament, presents Dr. Jalila Jbilou with the Innovation Champion Award

Testimonials from Truck Drivers

Without the TH@CLINIC, 50% of the truck drivers would not have access to the care they need and might have developed complications that would have resulted in missed working days, increase health services utilization including emergency room visits and hospitalizations, as well as an increase in medication intake.

Dr. Jalila Jbilou’s research reveals that while education is essential for adopting healthy behaviours, the real benefits come from continuous health coaching and access to services that help individuals put that knowledge into action, which is what TH@CLINIC provides.

Photo courtesy of Dr. Jalila Jbilou

Dr. Jalila Jbilou shared compelling stories of drivers whose lives were impacted by TH@CLINIC’s support. One trucker was experiencing severe hypoglycemia while driving. From the real-time data collected through his wearable device, a nurse from TH@CLINIC was alerted and immediately called him, instructing him to stop his truck and monitor his sugar intake. Without this intervention, he likely would have been at serious risk of an accident. Another time, a trucker showed early signs of a heart problem, including an increased heartbeat and arrythmia. A nurse, familiar with his medical history, noticed the changes through remote monitoring and reached out to check on him. She connected him with a doctor, who directed him to the emergency room and scheduled an appointment with a cardiologist, potentially preventing a life-threatening event.

TH@CLINIC’s impact goes beyond emergency interventions. One driver, continuously supported and monitored through the program, reported drastic improvements in his health after adopting healthier habits. “He reduced his belt by 5 holes” shares Dr. Jalila Jbilou, “those who hadn’t seen him for long wouldn’t recognize him”.

Advice to Aspiring Innovators

Dr. Jalila Jbilou encourages innovators not to hesitate when it comes to bringing new ideas to life, emphasizing the importance of collaboration and support in turning innovation into reality. Today, New Brunswick stands as the only place in the world offering this type of remote health monitoring service for truck drivers, but the creator of TH@CLINIC’s vision does not stop here. Dr. Jalila Jbilou is advocating for the expansion of this model to other industries where workers face significant health challenges.

“I do not know if this is the future, but it is my dream. And not just a dream, it is something I actively fight for,” Dr. Jalila Jbilou says.

Dr. Jalila Jbilou is determined to push for the integration of this kind of clinic not only in New Brunswick but across Canada. While her work has focused on truck drivers, she sees immense potential for farmers who face serious health risks and high suicide rates, as well as for fishermen who spend months at sea, miners working in remote locations, and offshore oil workers. This project was funded by several organizations, including ResearchNB, the Department of Health, the Department of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour, the MEDAVIE Foundation, WorkSafeNB, DEXCOM CANADA and several New Brunswick trucking companies.

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To learn more about Dr. Jalila Jbilou’s incredible work, click here.