PHSA can add another six BC Health Care Awards to its list of accomplishments, thanks to the dedication and innovation of five diverse program areas that are making a difference for patients and families across the province.
Presented by the
Health Employers Association of BC (HEABC), the
BC Health Care Awards recognize excellence and innovation in B.C.’s health care community and were given out at a special gala luncheon at the Fairmont Waterfront in Vancouver on Monday, June 24. Since the awards’ inception in 2007, PHSA has accumulated over 40 accolades. Congratulations to this year’s recipients from PHSA:
A Health Care Hero goes above and beyond to make a difference in health care and serves as a role model for colleagues and patients alike. Denise Bradshaw fits this bill as a true visionary and inspiration, from her development of the Heartwood Centre for Women and her work in the successful transfer of the Burnaby Centre for Mental Health and Addictions, to her current direction of the Provincial Perinatal Substance Use Project. Her leadership, expertise and tireless advocacy for increasing community health care access and for women who use substances make her the definition of a Health Care Hero.
Emergency physician Dr. Michael Flesher knows a thing or two about disasters. In addition to his work with emergency services and trauma care for Island Health, he is also the lead medical director for the Mobile Medical Unit. His development and leadership of the Applied Disaster Medicine Course was recognized with a Gold Apple award for Top Innovation.
Another first in Canada, the Applied Disaster Medicine Course was designed to outline the expected roles of health care professionals and administrators during a disaster. The standardized curriculum developed by the Mobile Medical Unit uses the latest literature in disaster medicine practices and can be adapted and tailored to meet the needs of regional health authorities and even individual hospitals. To date, over 100 health care professionals, including social workers, nurses and physicians have completed the Applied Disaster Medicine Course, and more B.C. hospitals have expressed interest in making it available to their staff.
Dr. Landsberg was recognized for his leadership of the Transplant First initiative, a joint initiative between BC Transplant and BC Renal.
"Transplant First has been a true partnership between BCT, BC Renal, Kidney Foundation of BC and provincial kidney care clinics," he said. "This initiative is making a real difference to patients enabling them to get the best treatment at the right time. Thanks to our great team."
Transplant First is the first of its kind in Canada and works to promote pre-emptive transplants (transplants provided to patients before they start dialysis) through living donation, inform staff and patients at the 13 Kidney Care Clinics across B.C. of the advantages and safety of living donation and provide tools to assist in finding willing donors. Since its launch, conversations with prospective recipients about living donation have increased more than threefold, and the number of referrals initiated for transplant and the number of living donor referrals have also increased by 13 and 19 per cent respectively. The initiative has received national attention, inspiring other provinces to adopt similar programs.
Learn more about Transplant First here.
Tackling the opioid epidemic has been a collective effort by many programs and services in all the health authorities. Knowing that two heads (or three, or four) are better than one, BC Emergency Health Services (BCEHS) joined forces with Island Health, SOLID Outreach, and Lookout Housing and Health Society to develop an innovative model for a safe consumption site in the Greater Victoria area that integrates primary care, mental health substance use services and supervised injection services all under one roof. The Harbour Community Health and Wellness Centre, led by BCEHS’ Vancouver Island director of patient care Lance Stephenson and Vancouver Island manager Brad Cameron, is the first supervised consumption service in the province and one of the first in Canada to fully integrate paramedics as part of a cohesive care team that includes harm reduction workers, nurses, persons with lived experience and social program officers.
The Northern Health Trauma Dashboard uses state-of-the-art business intelligence software to provide administrators and frontline health care providers with real-time information about trauma incidents and care across Northern Health, including trends, bottlenecks, transportation issues, and mortalities. A partnership among Northern Health, the University of Northern British Columbia’s Business Intelligence Research Group and Trauma Services BC, the Trauma Dashboard supports health care professionals to identify patterns and needs, and proactively allocate resources in support of improved trauma care for Northern Health residents.
On behalf of all our teams at PHSA, congratulations to all the award winners on these important achievements – we applaud your ingenuity and passion for improving the health of British Columbians.
Please visit
www.bchealthcareawards.ca for profiles and photos of all the 2019 winners and to learn more about the award categories and nominations for next year.
Check out PHSA’s previous award recipients from
2018.
