Quality Awards 2017 – Cheers to Our Awarded Patient Partners!

Created by the BC Patient Safety & Quality Council in 2009, the Quality Awards celebrate individuals, teams and facilities that significantly improved the quality of care in BC. This year, four individuals and four projects were recognized for their exceptional contributions to all areas of care in the province, from preventing illness and injury to providing care at the end of life.

The individual-based awards each recognize the impact that a single engaged person can have in transforming culture and care. We are blessed to see that every day in the amazing work of our patient partners. And that’s why we were extremely proud – but not at all surprised – to see Delia Cooper and Carolyn Canfield, two long-time PVN Patient Partners, chosen by the judges as the winner and the runner-up of the Leadership in Advancing the Patient Voice award, a brand new category created to celebrate patient engagement.

You may have crossed paths with Delia and Carolyn as a patient or health care partner, or heard about their tireless work to create a better and more inclusive health care system. But if you haven’t had that pleasure yet, here’s a quick introduction of their work:

Delia Cooper – Winner

Delia has been a dedicated volunteer for more than 30 years, advancing the patient voice through her efforts with numerous working groups and advisory roles, and speaking to national and international audiences about patient engagement. Her experience living with rheumatoid arthritis since the early age of 12 has been a key source of information and inspiration to other patients learning to manage chronic conditions.
Read her full profile.

Carolyn Canfield – Runner-up

After her husband’s unexpected hospital death following a successful surgery in 2008, Carolyn rose above the tragedy to learn about safety and changing culture for better experiences for patients and health care workers. She has spent nearly a decade as a public voice for patients, advocating for changes to improve safety and outcomes, and inspiring others to do the same.
Read her full profile.

In addition to Delia’s and Carolyn’s impressive accomplishments, the Quality Awards also celebrated many other amazing individuals and projects that, in one way or another, helped improve patient experience and engagement.

One of them is Louise Johnson, the quality coordinator of Park Place Seniors Living, who has fostered an organization-wide culture shift to improve care for seniors with dementia. There is also Assisted Peritoneal Dialysis, a project by the BC Provincial Renal Agency to train caregivers to help patients with functional limitations to continue accessing at-home kidney dialysis, preserving their independence and quality of life. Another remarkable winner is the ICU Wishing Well Project, which engages patients and families to make end-of-life care more comfortable and meaningful by fulfilling wishes at the bedside. And there is also Patient’s View, a tool used on mobile devices to gather feedback about quality and safety of care from patients and families at BC Children’s Hospital.

All the projects and awards are an endless source of inspiration and motivation, and we would like to congratulate the winners and runner-ups for their awesome work!

Check out the full list of winners and runners-up!