NEWS RELEASES

Current News Releases

 
 
 

Media Advisory — November 23, 2011

Lights of Hope shine from St. Paul’s Hospital this Thursday

An annual holiday tradition returns tomorrow, when St. Paul’s Hospital turns on the Lights of Hope display for the first time this year.

For the last 14 years, the Lights of Hope campaign has illuminated the exterior of St. Paul’s Hospital with a spectacular display of holiday lights to inspire the community to give generously to support world-leading care, research and teaching at the hospital.

This year, hundreds of people are expected to gather across from the hospital on November 24 between 6:40 and 7:00 pm for a special Lighting Celebration, in which the display will be turned on for the first time and fireworks lit to mark the occasion. The display, which is built by volunteers using donated materials (including 10 km of holiday lights), will continue to be lit every evening until January 9, 2012.

The 2011 Lights of Hope campaign has a goal to raise $1.9 million for equipment, research and enhanced patient care at St. Paul’s. Donations can be made by calling 604-662-HOPE or visiting www.lightsofhope.com.

Event: Lights of Hope Lighting Celebration
Date: November 24, 2011
Time: 6:40-7:00 p.m.
Location: St. Paul’s Hospital, 1081 Burrard Street, Vancouver, B.C.

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PRODUCERS/ASSIGNMENT EDITORS: The best place to film the lighting of the Lights of Hope display and fireworks is on Helmcken Street at Burrard facing the hospital. Space has been reserved for satellite trucks on Helmcken between Burrard and Hornby streets; enter off Hornby Street and show your media ID to volunteers at the barricade before 6:30 pm.

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Media Advisory — November 4, 2011

More than 100 volunteers to build 2011 Lights of Hope display Saturday morning

VANCOUVER, BC – Tomorrow, Vancouver will see an early sign that the holiday season is approaching when construction begins on the 2011 Lights of Hope display at St. Paul’s Hospital.

Beginning at 7:00 a.m. that day, more than 100 volunteers will brave the chilly weather conditions to help put together the display, a spectacular show of holiday lights outside of St. Paul’s Hospital to inspire the community to give generously to the hospital’s greatest needs.

Building the display requires months of planning, the support of suppliers who donate materials (including 10 km of holiday lights and more than 100 stars recognizing donors to the campaign), and the dedication of the volunteers who will put everything together. The volunteers – many of whom come from the construction industry – will be working high on cherry picker trucks and scaling the rungs of the scaffolding to build the display. Others will be helping to clean up, hang decorations and test the lights.

The 2011 Lights of Hope display will be lit for the first time on November 24, 2011 and will continue to be lit every night thereafter until January 9, 2012. To learn more, call 604-662-HOPE or visit www.helpstpauls.com.

Event: Construction of the Lights of Hope display at St. Paul’s Hospital
Date: Saturday, November 5, 2011
Time: 7:00 a.m. – 12 noon
Location: St. Paul’s Hospital, 1081 Burrard Street, Vancouver, B.C.

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Special instructions: Media are advised to arrive before noon as the construction starts at dawn and may finish by late morning.

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Media Release — October 20, 2011

Innovative surgical procedure pioneered at St. Paul’s Hospital saves lives of cardiac patients unable to undergo open-heart surgery

Vancouver, BC — Dr. John Webb and his colleagues at Vancouver’s St. Paul’s Hospital are making open-heart surgery a thing of the past, saving the lives of patients not viable for conventional heart surgery, such as former Vancouver city councilor and Order of Canada honoree May Brown.

And thanks to St. Paul’s Virtual Teaching Laboratory (VTL), Dr. Webb has been able to help save yet more lives by teaching this technique to cardiologists and cardiac surgeons from more than 25 other countries.

“Since Dr. Webb and his team developed the first routinely successful percutaneous valve replacement in 2005, more than 500 successful surgeries have been performed at St. Paul’s Hospital. This medical advancement is yet another example of the pioneering achievements of this hospital, as is the VTL which enables Dr. Webb and his colleagues to instruct cardiologists and cardiac surgeons around the world in this procedure,” said Dianne Doyle, president and CEO of Providence Health Care.

Dr. Webb, director of interventional cardiology at St. Paul’s Hospital and McLeod professor of heart valve intervention at UBC, is the first interventional cardiologist to develop successful methods of percutaneous aortic valve replacement as commonly used today. Dr. Webb performed the procedure for the first time in January 2005. More than 10 hospitals in Canada are now performing this procedure. The Edwards SAPIEN transcatheter heart valve frequently used in the procedure received Health Canada approval in June. FDA approval in the US is expected this fall.

Instead of the traditional valve replacement technique of open-heart surgery, Dr. Webb’s procedure uses a replacement valve that can be threaded up to the heart using a special catheter inserted into the patient’s artery just above the leg. It’s available on a limited basis for patients with significant valve problems who would not be able to endure open-heart surgery. Until this procedure became available, there was no other option for cardiac patients who, when the aortic valve became leaky or blocked, might suffer angina and heart failure.

May Brown, 91, who devoted her life to physical activity and community service wouldn’t have been able to continue without Dr. Webb and his revolutionary procedure. The former UBC physical education instructor had enjoyed walking, hiking, skiing and other activities until finding herself short of breath on a routine walk through Pacific Spirit Park last year.

Upon investigation, a heart murmur was detected and a heart surgeon pronounced that, given her history of esophageal cancer, she was not a candidate for open-heart surgery. St. Paul’s Hospital directed her to Dr. Webb who advised her that she would be a good candidate for his procedure.

“Up until I had the surgery, I found myself deteriorating, had to be sure I had someone with me on a walk, found I had to hold onto railings all the time and be careful on steps. I could see how, if I didn’t have the procedure, I would have to keep pulling back and diminishing. However, once I had the procedure, I was discharged within five days. My recovery was good and I’m back to my previous fitness level and can go uphill without puffing. I’ve got my life and confidence back. I’m most grateful to Dr. Webb and St. Paul’s. They are fantastic,” said Brown.

“According to the findings of the recent PARTNER* trial, there are 20 per cent more deaths in patients with severe aortic valve disease after one year who don’t undergo this surgery than in those who do – the largest reduction of mortality of any heart therapy ever,” said Dr. Webb.

Recovery time from this surgery is shorter than for open-heart surgery as the heart/lung machine is not involved. Patients may be discharged from hospital as early as within two days of the procedure. Increasingly, younger patients are being targeted for this surgery, including some patients in their 40s for whom open-heart surgery is not an option.

Dr. Webb started on the ground floor with percutaneous valve treatments in the late 1980s and saw possibilities to expand these sorts of therapies. Many people worked with him to put together the puzzle. He attributes the cooperative – as opposed to competitive – environment fostered at St. Paul’s Hospital as conducive to pioneering new medical advances.

“We first proved that we could perform this surgery on patients who couldn’t have surgery. Then we proved it’s better than open-heart surgery in many high risk patients. Over the next 10 years, we hope to prove that it’s the best surgery in most patients requiring valve replacement,” said Dr. Webb.

An acknowledged world leader in percutaneous valve replacement, Dr. Webb performs five of these surgeries a week, having completed more of these procedures than any other individual worldwide. Prior to the advent of the VTL – which offers real time, high definition broadcasts of surgeries – Dr. Webb spent one-third of his time criss-crossing the globe to teach in person. Now Dr. Webb and his fellow cardiologists and cardiac surgeons are able to help others save lives without ever having to leave the hospital.

The VTL is facilitated on any given day by four to eight members of St. Paul’s Hospital’s Media Services and Telemedicine Department and provides unprecedented, interactive access to the innovative work of the specialists at the hospital. It affords viewers the benefit of live, two-way communication with the cardiac team, as well as unobstructed views of high definition images on multiple screens, enabling viewers to see camera views, medical imaging, patient vitals, angiograms and more – none of which would be possible in a crowded operating room setting.

The VTL will broadcast live cases to cardiologists and cardiac surgeons attending this week’s Canadian Cardiovascular Congress (CCC) at the Vancouver Convention Centre.

St. Paul’s Hospital Foundation is currently working to raise at least half a million dollars for the state of the art VTL. For more information on how you can help expand teaching of innovative procedures at St. Paul’s, call 604-682-8206 or visit www.helpstpauls.com.

About Providence Health Care
Providence Health Care is one of Canada’s largest faith-based health care organizations, operating 16 facilities within Vancouver Coastal Health. Guided by the principle “How you want to be treated,” PHC’s 1,200 physicians, 6,000 staff and 1,500 volunteers deliver compassionate care to patients and residents in British Columbia. Providence’s programs and services span the complete continuum of care and serve people throughout B.C. PHC operates one of two adult academic health science centres in the province, performs cutting-edge research in more than 30 clinical specialties, and focuses its services on six “populations of emphasis”: cardiopulmonary risks and illnesses, HIV/AIDS, mental health, renal risks and illness, specialized needs in aging and urban health.

*PARTNER Trial, see New England Journal of Medicine article, Oct. 21, 2010, http://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMoa1008232

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B-roll of this technique being performed are available here.

 
 
 

Media Release — October 19, 2011

New research program investigates leading cause of death for women in British Columbia

 

Dr. Karin Humphries, based at St. Paul’s Hospital, is the inaugural UBC Heart and Stroke Foundation Professor in Women’s Cardiovascular Health – BC’s first research program focused on gender-based differences in cardiovascular disease.

Vancouver, BC – Today, Providence Health Care and the University of British Columbia (UBC) announced the establishment of the first research program in B.C. to focus on the impact of gender-based differences on cardiovascular disease (heart disease and stroke).

The UBC Heart and Stroke Foundation Professorship in Women’s Cardiovascular Health, held by Dr. Karin Humphries, will develop a focused and integrated vision for cardiovascular care, education and research for women throughout the province, including rural communities. The Professorship will be based out of St. Paul’s Hospital, which is known around the world for its work in the prevention of heart disease and for the care, treatment and support of people living with heart conditions.

Humphries will focus on researching the detection and early treatment of cardiovascular disease and finding new ways to improve the education of physicians, women and their families on heart disease and stroke. She will also develop strategies to improve outcomes for women at highest risk, including Aboriginal and South Asian women and those of poor socio-economic status.

Humphries is a leading research scientist at the Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences (CHÉOS) at St. Paul’s and Associate Professor in the Division of Cardiology in the Department of Medicine at the UBC Faculty of Medicine with extensive experience studying gender-related differences in cardiovascular disease. She will be a national Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada spokesperson on women’s cardiovascular disease issues.

The Professorship, a partnership between St. Paul’s Hospital and UBC, is being supported through part of $1.25 million in one-time funding to establish cardiac fellowships that was provided by the Ministry of Health through Cardiac Services BC, an agency of the Provincial Health Services Authority, and through a contribution of $500,000 from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada.

Quotes:

Dr. Moira Stilwell, Parliamentary Secretary for Industry, Research and Innovation
“The Province of British Columbia is proud to support the health of women across the B.C. through the creation of the UBC Heart and Stroke Foundation Professorship in Women’s Cardiovascular Health at St. Paul’s Hospital. This Professorship marks an investment in reducing the burden of heart disease on women and their families as well as on our health care system, in addition to a commitment to retaining our most talented researchers.”

Dr. Karin Humphries, UBC Heart and Stroke Foundation Professor in Women’s Cardiovascular Health
“For decades, cardiovascular disease was considered a man’s disease, but the reality is that more women are dying of heart disease than men. Although evidence suggests that gender differences can affect the prevalence, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment and outcomes of cardiovascular disease, we haven’t seen enough research in this area of study.”

Dr. Gavin C.E. Stuart, Dean, Faculty of Medicine and Vice Provost Health, University of British Columbia
“The UBC Heart and Stroke Foundation Professorship in Women’s Cardiovascular Health at St. Paul’s Hospital is a crucial step towards improving the way cardiac services are managed and accessed throughout the province. Dr. Humphries’ extensive research in this field makes her the ideal person to lead the development of a focused and integrated vision for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular health in women in B.C.”

David Babiuk, Provincial Executive Director, Cardiac Services BC
“We have an exceptional leader, researcher and colleague in Dr. Karin Humphries, and we know that her work will have a positive impact on both the prevention of heart disease in women and the care of women with heart disease in B.C. Our support is on behalf of Cardiac Services BC, BC Women’s Hospital and Health Centre, two of the agencies of the Provincial Health Services Authority and the five regional Health Authorities who we partner with in fulfilling our provincial cardiac services mandate.”

Bobbe Wood, President, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada
“Although heart disease and stroke are the leading causes of death in women, many women are not aware of their risk factors for and warning signs of cardiovascular disease. By supporting Dr. Humphries’ work, we hope to address this serious gap in knowledge in both the public and the health care community.”

Stephen Shapiro, President & CEO of St. Paul’s Hospital Foundation
“This Professorship further advances the world-leading research and innovative patient care that takes place at St. Paul’s Hospital through its roles as the provincial heart centre and an academic health science centre. On behalf of St. Paul’s Hospital Foundation, I would like to thank Cardiac Services BC, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and all of the other donors who made the Professorship possible.”

Background:

About Dr. Karin Humphries
Dr. Karin Humphries holds the UBC Heart and Stroke Foundation Professorship in Women’s Cardiovascular Health at St. Paul’s Hospital. She is a leading research scientist at the Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences (CHÉOS) at St. Paul’s and Associate Professor in the Division of Cardiology in the Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia. She is a Michael Smith Foundation Senior Scholar, and an Associate Member of the UBC Department of Surgery and the UBC School of Population and Public Health.

About the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada
The Heart and Stroke Foundation (www.heartandstroke.ca), a volunteer-based health charity, leads in eliminating heart disease and stroke and reducing their impact through the advancement of research and its application, the promotion of healthy living, and advocacy.

About St. Paul’s Hospital Foundation
St. Paul’s Hospital Foundation raises funds to support inspired care, research and teaching at St. Paul’s Hospital, a leading academic health science centre located in Vancouver, Canada. St. Paul’s Hospital Foundation raised $9.95 million for equipment, research and patient care in the 2010/2011 fiscal year. For more information, visit www.helpstpauls.com.

About the UBC Faculty of Medicine
The UBC Faculty of Medicine provides innovative programs in the health and life sciences, teaching students at the undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate levels. Its faculty members received $295 million in research funds, 54 percent of UBC’s total research revenues, in 2010-11. For more information, visit www.med.ubc.ca.

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Media contacts

  • Brice Dare
    Manager, Communications
    St. Paul’s Hospital Foundation
    604-806-9850
    bdare@providencehealth.bc.ca
  • Brian Kladko
    Communications Manager, Faculty of Medicine
    The University of British Columbia
    604-827-3301
    brian.kladko@ubc.ca
  • Erika Callowhill
    Director, Marketing & Communications, BC & Yukon
    Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada
    604.737.3420
    ecallowhill@hsf.bc.ca
 
 
 

Media Release — September 23, 2011

BC Hospitals Begin Routine Testing for HIV to Help Curb Global Epidemic

Vancouver, BC — Vancouver Coastal Health and Providence Health Care are taking the fight against HIV/AIDS, one of the biggest global health epidemics of our generation, to a new level by launching a pilot project in which most hospital patients who consent will be routinely offered a test for the infection.

For the full press release, click here.

 
 
 

Media Release — September 22, 2011

$17.2 Million for St. Paul’s Hospital Upgrades

Vancouver, BC — St. Paul’s Hospital will benefit from $17.2 million to replace aging electrical infrastructure and elevators, providing stability and consistent care for patients, announced Health Minister Michael de Jong today, as he visited the facility.

For the full press release, click here.

 
 
 

Media Release — May 26, 2011

Boehringer Ingelheim establishes Physician Scholar Awards at St. Paul’s Hospital and Vancouver General Hospital

Left to right: Dr. Theodore Witek Jr., President and CEO of Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada) Ltd.; Dr. Ken Gin, Head of the VGH and UBC Division of Cardiology; and Dr. Bruce McManus, Co-Director of the Institute for Heart + Lung Health and Director of the UBC James Hogg Research Centre at St. Paul’s.

VANCOUVER, BC, – Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada) Ltd., one of the world’s top 20 leading pharmaceutical companies, announced today that it is making $225,000 in donations to both St. Paul’s Hospital and Vancouver General Hospital (VGH) to support the scientific development of young cardiology specialists.

“Boehringer Ingelheim believes in the importance of maintaining excellence in scientific research and training,” said Dr. Theodore Witek Jr., President and CEO of Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada) Ltd., at an event held today to mark the contribution. “The establishment of the Boehringer Ingelheim Physician Scholar Awards will support this goal by equipping the next generation of cardiologists and cardiac surgeons with the tools they need to create a healthier future for the people of British Columbia.”

The Boehringer Ingelheim Physician Scholar Awards will provide cardiologists and cardiac surgeons at each hospital with funding that will allow them to dedicate time to clinical research, in addition to the time they spend with patients. In particular, the awards were created to kick-start innovative research projects and maximize information gained from larger projects, as well as provide opportunities for mentoring. These donations will ultimately benefit the thousands of British Columbian heart patients who are treated St. Paul’s Hospital and VGH each year.

“We are pleased that a leading pharmaceutical company like Boehringer Ingelheim is supporting the continued growth of patient care and clinical research at St. Paul’s Hospital,” said Stephen Shapiro, President and CEO of St. Paul’s Hospital Foundation. “The Boehringer Ingelheim Physician Scholar Award will play a vital role in helping the provincial Heart Centre at St. Paul’s to attract and retain the world’s top talent and to continue offering inspired care, research and teaching that benefit our patients.”

“We know that every year thousands of patients with heart disease and related conditions depend on the experts at VGH for specialized cardiac treatment and care,” said Ron Dumouchelle, President and CEO, VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation. “Through their donation, Boehringer Ingelheim is helping young cardiology physicians and cardiac surgeons at our hospital do more for today’s and tomorrow’s patients.”

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About Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada) Ltd.
The Boehringer Ingelheim group is one of the world’s 20 leading pharmaceutical companies. Headquartered in Ingelheim, Germany, it operates globally with 145 affiliates and more than 42,000 employees.

Since it was founded in 1885, the family-owned company has been committed to researching, developing, manufacturing and marketing novel products of high therapeutic value for human and veterinary medicine.

As a central element of its culture, Boehringer Ingelheim pledges to act socially responsible. Involvement in social projects, caring for employees and their families, and providing equal opportunities for all employees form the foundation of the global operations. Mutual cooperation and respect, as well as environmental protection and sustainability are intrinsic factors in all of Boehringer Ingelheim’s endeavors.

In 2010, Boehringer Ingelheim posted net sales of 11.7 billion euro while spending almost 24% of net sales in its largest business segment Prescription Medicines on research and development.

The Canadian headquarters of Boehringer Ingelheim was established in 1972 and the Research and Development Centre located in Laval, Québec, Canada since 1988. Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada) Ltd. is home to more than 700 employees including 160 scientists across the country.

For more information please visit www.boehringer-ingelheim.ca.

About St. Paul’s Hospital Foundation
St. Paul’s Hospital Foundation raises funds to support inspired care, research and teaching at St. Paul’s Hospital, a leading academic health science centre located in Vancouver, Canada. St. Paul’s Hospital Foundation raised more than $10 million for equipment, research and patient care in the 2009-2010 fiscal year.

For more information, visit www.helpstpauls.com.

About VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation
VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation is a registered charity that raises funds for medical equipment, world-class research and improvements to patient care for the Cardiac Sciences Program at VGH and many other specialized areas of care at VGH, UBC Hospital, GF Strong Rehab Centre, Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute and Community Health Services across Vancouver.

For more information, visit www.worldclasshealthcare.ca.

Media contacts

 
 
 

Media Release — April 6, 2011

Internet brings specialized care to those living in remote areas

VANCOUVER, APRIL 6, 2011 – Highly specialized chronic-disease care is now going where it hasn’t gone before. Internationally renowned Simon Fraser University and Providence Health Care (PHC) researcher Dr. Scott Lear is using $1-million in research grants to carry out his latest study of internet-delivered care – developing websites that help patients manage chronic diseases at home and in remote parts of the province.

“Patients who live in large cities benefit from specialized clinics to help with their diseases,” says Lear, who is also the Pfizer/Heart and Stroke Foundation Chair in Cardiovascular Prevention Research at St. Paul’s Hospital. “Despite access to health services and specialists being widely available in British Columbia’s large cities, these services are not available in remote, rural and small urban areas (referred to as ‘rural’). Patients either have to travel large distances or forego care, resulting in worse health.”

Rural patients are especially vulnerable to the consequences of chronic diseases due to this reduced access to health care.

“It’s the people outside the urban areas whose disease rates are higher,” observes Lear. “In fact, rural patients with heart disease are 40 to 50 per cent more likely than their urban counterparts to be admitted to hospital due to their condition.

“Through our research, we want to deliver care to those people who might not otherwise have access. We want to improve their quality of life, keep them out of hospital and reduce their future risk.”

To help address this need, Lear is researching and developing websites that will allow patients to receive specialized care without having to leave home. The websites will be vital tools in supporting patients in their disease management and coordinating care with their family physician, he says.

Working with PHC clinicians, the focus for the websites will be on five high impact chronic diseases: heart disease, heart failure, diabetes, chronic kidney disease and chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD).

These interactive websites will support patient self-management and patient monitoring, and allow patients to enter their vital signs and symptoms (i.e. weight, blood sugar), track their progress, and receive real-time virtual therapy (nutrition, exercise, psychological support, medication adherence and smoking cessation) from specialized health professionals.

Specialized health professionals and primary care physicians will be able to track their patients’ progress and will be alerted in the case of changes in signs and symptoms that require further intervention.

One website has been completed and others are being developed while patients who’ll participate in the rural study are being identified.

In earlier pilot tests, Lear found that interactive-based cardiac rehabilitation can be as effective as hospital-based rehab programs.

Currently, Lear is leading a study of 74 rural heart patients from B.C.’s Sunshine Coast, Whistler and Northern regions. At the onset of the study, all participants were given blood and stress tests at St. Paul’s Hospital to provide a baseline measurement. Half were then provided with a blood and heart monitor and set up on the cardiac rehab website at home. Every week for four months, they filled out food diaries, followed prescribed exercises while wearing a heart monitor, took their blood pressure and weighed themselves, and then uploaded the data onto their computers.

Over the next few years, Lear will study patients from all over B.C. again to help determine if these websites can help improve patients’ care and quality of life while reducing health care costs.

Lear hopes that if proven effective, the model will be expanded to rural areas across the province.

The Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, in partnership with the B.C. Ministry of Health Services, Providence Health Care, Vancouver Coastal Health and the other health authorities of B.C., are funding the research.

About Providence Health Care
Providence Health Care is one of Canada’s largest faith-based health care organizations, operating 15 health care facilities within Vancouver Coastal Health. Guided by the principle “How you want to be treated,” PHC’s 1,200 physicians, 6,000 staff and 1,500 volunteers deliver compassionate care to patients and residents in British Columbia. PHC operates one of two adult academic health science centres in the province, performs cutting-edge research in more than 30 clinical specialties, and focuses its services on six “populations of emphasis”: cardio-pulmonary risks and illnesses, HIV/AIDS, mental health, renal risks and illness, specialized needs in aging and urban health. http://www.providencehealthcare.org.

About Simon Fraser University
Simon Fraser University offers more than 100 undergraduate programs and more than 45 graduate offerings to over 34,000 students each year. With three campuses in Burnaby, Vancouver, and Surrey, and more than 100,000 alumni, Simon Fraser University has been consistently ranked as one of Canada’s top comprehensive universities. http://www.sfu.ca/about/follow.html#fb

The Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research
The Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (MSFHR), funded by the government of British Columbia, is our province’s health research support agency. Since our inception in 2001, MSFHR’s mandate has been to strengthen BC’s health research enterprise – which in turn improves the health of British Columbians, their health system and their economy. http://www.msfhr.org/

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Media contacts

  • Justin Karasick
    Senior Public Affairs Officer – Providence
    Pager 604.686.9983
    Cell 604.992.2503
    Tel. 604.806.8460
  • Marianne Meadahl
    Assistant Director, External
    Lower Mainland Communications and Public Affairs Public Affairs and Media Relations
    Simon Fraser University
    778.782.4323
    Marianne_Meadahl@sfu.ca
 
 
 

Media Advisory — March 8, 2011

St. Paul’s Hospital installs Teck Emergency Centre sign outside ambulance bay on Burrard Street

Teck Emergency Centre sign on Burrard Street

St. Paul’s Hospital announced today that it has completed the installation of a 10-inch by 27-foot sign that celebrates the naming of the Teck Emergency Centre.

The sign, located outside the ambulance bay on Burrard Street, recognizes a $2.5 million donation made by Teck Resources to complete the funding of the hospital’s renovated and redesigned emergency area. The gift, which was announced on October 27, 2010, is the largest corporate and capital donation ever received by St. Paul’s.

“Teck provided crucial support to the emergency department at St. Paul’s Hospital, which is one of the busiest in the province and now one of the most technologically advanced in the country,” said Stephen Shapiro, President and CEO of St. Paul’s Hospital Foundation. “We are proud to recognize Teck’s generosity in front of the 67,000 patients who receive emergency care at St. Paul’s each year and the millions more who pass by this hospital on their travels through downtown Vancouver.”

Teck’s donation concluded a fundraising campaign to complete a $14.7-million renovation of the hospital’s emergency area, which incorporates leading-edge, innovative technologies and best practices to reduce wait times and optimize patient flow. In addition to Teck’s gift, 1,200 individuals and other corporate donors combined to give more than $2.4 million to the project while the Province of British Columbia, through Vancouver Coastal Health, provided $10 million in funding support.

“Health and safety are core values at Teck, and we’re pleased to play a role in developing this state-of-the-art emergency department,” said Don Lindsay, President and CEO of Teck Resources. “There’s no doubt that the combination of this upgraded facility and the expertise of St. Paul’s staff and physicians will be a valuable resource for the residents of Vancouver and for the rest of BC.”

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Media contact

  • Brice Dare
    St. Paul’s Hospital Foundation
    604-806-9850