Category: My Experience

Anyone who lives with persistent pain will know how much energy it takes to simply get through a single day. That’s why I asked myself what in the world I was thinking when I applied to attend the intensive three days of meetings, speakers, seminars, field trips, hallways, elevators, no daylight and thousands of people that was the Quality Forum 2019.

Known as the “Small Centre with a Big Heart,” Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children, in Vancouver, provides specialized development and rehabilitation services for children, youth and families throughout BC. The organization saw International “What Matters to You?” Day as a chance to engage staff by encouraging conversations with families. The results were impressive, so we asked Leslie Louie, the centre’s Family Engagement Advisor, to write a blog post about the campaign.

If you or a loved one have ever been sick and in need of care, you’ve probably felt the fear and anxiety of not knowing exactly what was going on and what the treatment would be. And you’ve probably felt relief and comfort if your health care providers made a point of including you in all care decisions. That’s what our patient partner Kyle Warkentin felt during his mom’s care experience, which he shares with us in his “What Matters to You?” story.

We’re celebrating National Volunteer Week 2019 and thrilled to see all the amazing results of patient partners’ work across the province! One of them is Lisa Ridgway, from Victoria, who is participating in patient-oriented research to help improve mental health care in BC. Read her post to learn more about her experience.

PVN Patient Partner Chad Dickie was recently sponsored by PVN to attend a great learning opportunity: a workshop on Design Thinking facilitated by the BC Patient Safety & Quality Council. Chad has been a volunteer since 2017 and has been a part of several committees and Boards, and involved with…

PVN patient partners have the chance to attend many of the workshops offered by the BC Patient Safety & Quality Council, which cover topics such as applying design principles to health care challenges and using data to drive improvement projects. We recently sponsored two patient partners to attend these workshops…

[rt_reading_time label=”Reading Time:” postfix=”minutes”] In October, the government of BC announced funding for a new urgent primary care facility to open in Langford on Vancouver Island. We caught up with Layton Engwer and Chad Dickie, two PVN patient partners who were involved in the consultation and implementation of the…

[rt_reading_time label="Reading Time:" postfix="minutes"] As part of our monthly blog feature on all the regions of BC (so far, we’ve done posts on a successful PVN project at Fraser Health and takeaways from the IAP2 conference in Victoria), we are focusing on Northern BC this month! We’ve asked Cherie, a PVN Patient Partner, to tell us about her experience as a volunteer in a rural northern Indigenous community and recently attending a conference in Baltimore through PVN. Take it away, Cherie!

[rt_reading_time label=”Reading Time:” postfix=”minutes”] The International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) recently held their North American conference in Victoria and PVN sponsored three patient partners to attend this great learning opportunity. If you’re unfamiliar with IAP2, this is the organization that created the public engagement spectrum tool that PVN…

[rt_reading_time label="Reading Time:" postfix="minutes"] It appears to be a regular day on the rehabilitation floor at Ridge Meadows Hospital. Staff serve meals and check on patients, while families visit their loved ones — all in a day’s work. There’s something different on this day in particular, though: hospital volunteers, armed with iPads and positive attitudes, make the rounds at the bedside to ask important questions of patients and families about their stay. This is all part of a concerted effort by Fraser Health to take health care improvement ideas out of the boardroom and to the bedside through a partnership between patients, families and front-line health care teams. And the We Want to Hear from You: Real-time Patient Experience Survey is already making a difference at facilities across the Fraser Valley!