Easing agitation
“I went berserk more or less,” recalls Colin Lewis about his time in Royal Columbian Hospital’s Cardiac Surgery Intensive Care Unit (CSICU) following a cardiac arrest. “I was going to throw my CPAP machine at them. I’m not usually like that at all.”
Athwal family’s story
Harbhajan Singh Athwal’s children admire their father’s commitment to his friends, family, and his faith. But when the 65-year-old family patriarch passed away from COVID-19 in March 2021, the number of stories others shared of his generosity and kindness surprised even his family. And amid the intense grief, the family knew they wanted to give back to honour his memory and thank the healthcare team at Royal Columbian Hospital.
Alain Champagne’s Story
On the night of December 18th, 2016, Alain Champagne was getting ready for bed when his wife Marion Bonner heard a loud thump. She bolted up the stairs to check on Alain. She found him slumped against a dresser, having a seizure.
Kulwant Samra’s story
After Kulwant Samra tested positive for COVID-19, the 51-year-old Abbotsford man isolated himself from his family in a room in his home. He was tired and short of breath in the first half of June 2020, as businesses and schools in the province were re-opening following the initial protective measures taken during the start of the pandemic. Kulwant was initially still able to work remotely for his trucking company, dispatching a driver by phone the day he truly became alarmed by how he felt. His last memory was leaving his home by ambulance, before waking up eight weeks later at Royal Columbian Hospital.
Roger Pinette’s story
Roger Pinette had been feeling unwell for a few days, struggling with a bad cough, headaches, a fever, and fatigue. They are the type of symptoms that have come to be associated with COVID-19, but back in early March 2020 it was not yet front and centre in people’s minds. It would be several weeks before the 72-year-old Langley resident would learn he had contracted a near fatal case of the respiratory illness, only hearing the news after he had awoken from a lengthy stay in Royal Columbian Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit.
Vince Li’s Story
26-year-old Vince Li had been battling a fever for several days in March 2020 when he made his way to the hospital in Burnaby. The results of an X-ray and blood test revealed tell-tale signs of COVID-19. Doctors decided to immediately sedate, intubate, and send the young man to Royal Columbian Hospital, one of the province’s primary COVID-19 sites. There, he became the youngest COVID-positive patient to be mechanically ventilated in the hospital’s intensive care unit during the pandemic’s spring peak.
Ty Vongnakhone’s story
When the back pain started, 31-year old Ty Vongnakhone first tried ointment and then a massage. Still, the pain was getting worse, so the Burnaby resident went to his local hospital. There, a stunning diagnosis – an extensive type B aortic dissection. Soon, he was rushed to Royal Columbian Hospital, where he would spend the next five weeks under the care of a medical team that spanned multiple departments.
Donors fund big needs at Royal Columbian
Dr. Sue Sidhu is among the surgeons at Royal Columbian Hospital who can fix severely broken ribs by using a […]
Ashley and Hazel Durance
Ashley Durance had just survived a life-threatening complication of pregnancy. Her newborn girl Hazel, among the most premature and smallest ever to be born at Royal Columbian Hospital, was under constant watch in the intensive care unit for newborns. And now Ashley’s father Rick Walsh was about to undergo open heart surgery. With Christmas of 2016 only a couple of days away, it was hard to believe all that had happened in the last several weeks.
New SFU professorship to boost research collaboration with RCH
The collaboration between a Simon Fraser University professor and a critical care physician at Royal Columbian Hospital to wean seriously ill and injured patients off mechanical ventilators will benefit from a new research position established by the hospital’s foundation.
Dr. Steve Reynolds has been awarded the Royal Columbian Hospital Foundation Professorship in Critical Care at Simon Fraser University. The $250,000, five-year professorship will support his research, aimed at saving lives and health costs.