Kidney Nutrition Health Promotion Project

Are you interested in helping inform nutrition health promotion programming at Providence Health Care for chronic disease management? This six-month project may be for you!
Open to: Volunteers in the Fraser Valley and Lower Mainland region

Lead Organization or Department

Providence Health Care, Renal Nutrition

Aim

The Kidney Nutrition Health Promotion Project aims to provide nutrition health promotion programs that are effective, accessible and useful to patients with chronic disease (i.e. diabetes, kidney disease). The patient volunteer will participate in reviewing our innovative and pictorial patient education handouts.

Level of Engagement

This opportunity is at the level of collaborate (at a local community or program level) on the spectrum of engagement (www.iap2.org).  The promise to you is that the health care partner will look to you for advice in decision making, developing alternatives, and solutions and include your recommendations into the decision as much as possible.

Eligibility

• Interest in nutrition and nutrition education
• Preference is for patients from diverse cultural backgrounds.
• Patients should have previously attended a PVN orientation session and signed the Volunteer Agreement. If you have not attended an orientation but are interested please contact the Engagement Leader directly to see if accommodations may be possible.

Logistics

• Number of vacancies: 2
• Participation is for 6 months
• Monthly 1.5 hour meetings are held on Tuesdays or Thursdays (schedule to be determined)
• Volunteers can participate in person of via teleconference

Reimbursement

Expenses related to travel (i.e. transit, parking up to $18/day, approved mileage) to attend sessions will be reimbursed by Providence Health Care.

Background

Providence has recently expanded their renal nutrition program to include a Practice Lead whose responsibility is to align health promotion initiatives and engage patient participation in program planning. We have formed and are already working on some strategies for achieving our vision of patient-informed health promotion programming. At this time, we would like to bring patients more directly into the program planning process so that we can achieve continuity and growth in our established programs. We would like to offer programming that is patient-informed and patient-supported as we move forward so that the time patients spend with us is worthwhile and productive for them in their self-management process. At present, we are focused on St. Paul's Hospital and its Dialysis Units, with the possibility of bringing out community dialysis units as well.

Health Care Partner Contact Information

Karen Estrin
Engagement Leader, Patient and Public Engagement | Lower Mainland & Sunshine Coast
604.668.8245
kestrin@bcpsqc.ca