Blog

After facing challenges with her health since a young age, Leya Stringer decided to become a PVN Patient Partner in 2013 to share her experience and help improve the health care system. Four years and 30 engagement opportunities later, she wrote this blog post to tell us what it was like to start participating and what she learned throughout the years:

Are you a member of our PVN Patient & Health Care Partners Facebook Group? In this post we’ll show you how to join the group and use it to connect with other PVN members across BC. Check it out!

A few weeks ago, our patient partner Edwina Nearhood wrote a guest post about what she was looking forward to learning at the National Forum on Quality Improvement in Health Care. Edwina was very excited about attending the conference and, in this follow-up post, she tells us what the experience was like:

Our project coordinator Shannon Sahota joined Fraser Health’s Patient Experience Summit on December 2 and had a great time watching PVN Patient Partners in action. In this guest post she tells us about her experience and recaps the event:

Since joining PVN in early summer 2016, Edwina Nearhood has participated in many engagement opportunities. In this guest blog post, she tells us why she’s looking forward to attending the National Forum on Quality Improvement in Health Care: “I was put in contact with PVN after I had a less then desirable experience over several months for the treatment of a long-term chronic health care issue. As a result of my experience, I decided to, in Ghandi’s words, ‘Be the change you wish to see in the world.’

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.

We’re always looking for ways to get to know our patient partners better and find out their hopes and expectations for the Network. That’s why we’ve been planning a series of networking coffee events across BC for patient partners, PVN Engagement Leaders and health care partners.

Jami Brown, engagement leader for the Fraser Valley region, joined PVN in February and has been having amazing experiences with patient partners ever since. She wrote about them in this blog post, in which she also introduces the beautiful story of Bob and Kimberly Strain, a father and daughter duo who volunteer together.

Welcome to PVN’s new online home! We’re excited to see how it helps us recruit new patient and health care partners, and how it will help us support their efforts to improve British Columbia’s health care system, together.

We're ready to begin telling the stories of our patient and health care partners! Our first 'Meet our Volunteers' blog post introduces you to Fran Banks, a PVN Volunteer from White Rock.