Victoria Hospitals Foundation

TIMES COLONIST | timescolonist.com

SUNDAY, AUGUST 28, 2022

A7

Produced in support of the Victoria Hospitals Foundation

THEY ARE HUMANS FIRST, WHO PUT OTHER HUMANS FIRST

PERSONAL STORIES FROM THE HUMANS BEHIND OUR VICTORIA HOSPITALS’ FRONTLINES THE HUMANS IN OUR HOSPITALS

O

ver the last few years, we have witnessed an outpouring of support for our hospital staff and care teams. Their strength, resiliency, and selfless dedication to local healthcare inspires our work every single day.

Our giving community has shown their solidarity in incredible ways since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Their generous support has uplifted our care teams, provided them with advanced equipment, and funded new research projects and educational opportunities. They also provided some comfort in times of great stress in the form of warm meals, treats, and gift cards from local businesses.

Throughout the pandemic, our collective gratitude compelled many of us to refer to our neighbours on the frontlines as “heroes.” We heard it in the news and saw it written on hearts displayed in windows.

But the truth is, the heroes in our hospitals

are human. They have families and friends, they enjoy hobbies and interests, and they have all lived through their own personal triumphs and heartbreaks.

This is why I am proud to introduce #HumansFirst, a new initiative that aims to share the authentic stories of our local Victoria caregivers and hospital staff. In the next few pages, I invite you to hear from the humans behind our hospitals’ frontlines.

I hope these stories will inspire you as much as they have inspired me.

Avery Brohman CEO, Victoria Hospitals Foundation P.S. I also invite you to learn more about me and my story at: victoriahf.ca/ humansfirst-avery

Chantal & Shaun: Respiratory Therapists at Victoria General Hospital SPOUSES, DOG-LOVERS, ADVENTURERS, FOOD ENTHUSIASTS, MOTORCYCLE RIDERS, HUMANS

I

’m sure people laugh when they first meet us. Shaun always says I’m the Energizer bunny. I just go-go-go.

I’m a busy person, and I talk a lot.

And he’s this calm, gentle, quiet giant.

We just seem to balance each other out.

It’s the same at work. I’m this tornado and everything that’s going to happen is going to happen where I am. But Shaun is this fluffy pink cloud. I’ll hear that seven patients got extubated today and there’s no one left in the ICU. And I’ll be like, “Oh, was Shaun there?” And they’ll say, “Yep, Shaun was there.” Historically, there are people who just seem to get it all, and some people who don’t. We are those two people.

We met in the pulmonary function lab that used to be here at the General. I was a student. He graduated in 1997, and I graduated in ‘99. We started working together in the same department, and became friends.

I remember saying to another friend that I wished I could just meet somebody like Shaun. That would be perfect. I had never thought about us being together because we worked together. Things happen, and then you still have to work with that person if they go badly. I had actually just applied to go to Arizona. I thought, I’m young, I’ll go work for a couple of years somewhere else. And then Shaun sat me down and said, “Well, actually, I thought we should try dating.”

We ended up sitting on his couch all night long. I was on-call for the operating room that morning, but we talked all night and decided that we would try, but that we wouldn’t tell anyone for a few months— until we knew whether it was really going to be a thing or not. Turns out, it was a thing.

We’ve worked together those whole 20 years, and we’ve been shift partners for 10 years. We love working together.

We mostly work in different units. I love the nursery—the NICU. I do high-risk deliveries. It’s not Shaun’s favorite. He loves to let me have that. But he loves kids and loves to be in the PICU. We’ve always said that Respiratory Therapists (RT) have unusual jobs. We

motorcycle ride, popping see a lot of terrible, sad things. We go into a winery up-Island, to every code, every trauma, every bad going for lunch, and delivery. Having someone who you then coming home and can really talk to about the snuggling with our dog reality of what we do, and while we listen to music. the gravity of it—it’s like We’re big into music—we therapy. The good and don’t have a TV in our the bad. main area. He pours me a There’s something glass of wine and we listen about having your to music and the dog’s there. I person there. They love being on the bike with him. have your back. It I feel very safe with him. He lived doesn’t matter if it’s a very rural life growing up, so he’s three o’clock in the been riding since he was four. morning and they’ve He loves his garden too. He’s got quite been up all night and a green thumb, and he’s big into bonsais. all of a sudden there’s When we moved into our house, my uncle a trauma. It’s just a nice said to us, “You only get about 30 gardens feeling to have them there. in your life. You have to make the most We go of them.” So that to codes and became our goal, to traumas where have this little oasis the person passes We only dated for in our backyard. A away. You learn to eight months before he real love of ours is compartmentalize. proposed, and then we married six just taking care of You go back months after that. Last year was our yard. upstairs and now our 20th wedding anniversary. We I also love you’re having didn’t get to do anything because entertaining. That’s lunch, and most of the pandemic, but we’ll celebrate been one of my people would say, down the road. biggest struggles “How can you through the possibly go eat pandemic. Shaun is after that?” But it’s more of a homebody. the nature of our job.

But he’s so gracious.

We have a fur baby. Poppy. She’s a He opens his home and he never minds Portuguese water dog. She’s definitely when I have parties and people over. our focus. My passion is cooking, and It’s been hard to watch. We were it’s what I spend the most time doing outside of work. Shaun likes eating, so it’s here for SARS, MERS, H1N1, but we’d never seen anything remotely close to a win-win. We also have a garden, and a motorcycle that gets a lot of use.

COVID-19. The first six months were Our ideal day off would be going for a scary. We were doing intubations with

doctors, and even though you put all of this protection on, we didn’t know if it was enough. We didn’t see anyone for months and months. We were so scared to put our families at risk.

The last few months have been pretty rough. We’ve been through some struggles with Shaun’s family. It’s hard because it’s overshadowing for us right now.

Last October, his dad fell, hit his head, and ended up passing away. He had a huge bleed. But the hospital family at VGH really embraced us. We had emergency room nurses, doctors, and care aids helping us.

And then we had ICU doctors stopping by because they recognized us, asking if they could help. We had nurses stopping by to give us a hug.

We realized we have a family here.

Everybody was just so supportive. When Shaun was having a hard time, one of our managers said, “You have devoted your lives to helping people.

Now we’re going to help you.” That really stuck with me.

Shaun has always said that every family member we see in Emergency when we’re in those trauma bays is probably having the worst day of their life. Whether it’s their grandma or mom or husband or sister. Even if someone isn’t dying, it’s traumatic.

My family always used to joke that people don’t know what an RT is unless they’ve been sick enough to need an RT. They always call us the MacGyvers of the hospital. We can put together any piece of equipment. We can add connectors and figure out ways to put things together.

We are very technical. But because of the nature of our job being in trauma and those awful situations, that’s where the therapist part comes in. When you’re caring for these people and ventilating them, you get attached to your patients and very involved with them.

At the end of the day, it’s somebody’s life. We are running machines that are life-saving machines—and that patient is somebody’s person.

Heather: Recently Retired Registered Nurse at Royal Jubilee Hospital

Produced in support of the Victoria Hospitals Foundation

CJ: Registered Nurse at Victoria General Hospital sp BREAKFAST-LOVER, CLIMBER, PARTNER, SON, HUMAN

SINGER, TEACHER, MOTHER, GRANDMOTHER, HUMAN

I

’ve worked as a nurse at Royal Jubilee Hospital for 41 years, and I’ve worked in the recovery room since April 1983. It’s been an amazing career. It was the perfect niche because I could teach patients, talk to patients, and use my critical thinking skills. In the PACU, they call me Google because they think I know everything— which isn’t true. It’s just that I’ve been around for a long time.

Some patients, who are under sedation or asleep, never know who we are. Others are awake and you can have great conversations with them. You can give them some insight and understanding— which I think is really important, especially now that we have masks on our faces. I’m still real old-school.

I think it’s important for us to have that human contact.

I’m a firm believer in actual human touch.

For a while there, we all gloved, masked, and gowned. We had shields on our faces. I think we probably looked like space people to someone coming out of anesthetic. I had my name on my face shield, and tried to decorate it for the occasion of the year. If it was Valentine’s Day, I had hearts on it.

We sing in recovery. We’ll all just break out into a little song and dance. At Christmas time we take requests. And we decorate the recovery room too. I’m the chief decorator. If you walk into our

recovery room now, there are butterflies hanging from every bay. You have to have these team building things to keep the morale up.

For some, you just don’t know the trauma they have been through.

Everybody’s story is so different, and surgery is very vulnerable. You’re giving somebody else control. A patient might wake up crying, and you have no idea why until you learn that they were so afraid they were not going to wake up.

I have lots of little sayings that I use just to try to convey to someone that I’m here, and I’m trying to understand, and you’re safe.

I was born and brought up in Victoria.

I was 24 when I went to nursing school. I was a senior student because I’d already gone off to university to study anatomy and physiology.

Most people in the program were 17 or 18, right out of high school.

I was the oldest in the class, but I think that actually stood me in good stead because you bring life skills with you. When you’re 17, you don’t have as much life experience. After the first six months of the nursing program, we went from a class of 44 to 22. These young kids straight out of high school thought they knew what nursing was, and then found out it was very, very different. For some, it was too much to handle emotionally.

just so happy you’re there.

It was a three-year program here I live in a townhome complex, so I at the Jubilee. We all had to live in have a small garden. But, back in the day, residence, over in the old Begbie Hall.

Now it’s the Administrative Block. For the I used to have about 8,000 square feet first two years, everyone had a roommate. of garden. I would get out there and just dig and prune. And I sing with the UVic In the third year, you got to have your Chorus and Orchestra. I did have classical own room. singing training, and that’s a really big I graduated in December 1981. It was outlet because you can just belt it out. It a Friday. I started work the following gives you that endorphin release. I love Monday as a day/night float nurse. We Jeopardy, and in the evening I do like were considered to be graduate nurses, so watching medical programs. I love seeing we weren’t registered nurses yet. We still if they got the medicine right. couldn’t do certain I also have a treatments and give summer cottage certain medications that I share with without supervision.

As a nurse, you take on my siblings. That’s We wrote our exams a mother bear persona. our sanctuary. that following June, Part of nursing is advocating for a That’s where I go to and then we had to person who doesn’t have a voice. unwind. You know, wait six weeks to get I really want to help them heal in just to sit on the our marks back. the best way. dock, read a book, Everybody and do those kinds fretted about the of things that relax envelopes. A thick you. envelope meant you passed—because it When I retire this year, I’m had all of the paperwork you needed to sign inside. A thin envelope was bad news. going to give up my license and do something completely different. I’m Thankfully, I got a thick envelope. going to give part of my time to my Shortly after, my mom died of ovarian granddaughter and do some of her cancer. I was 27. She was over in the old childcare, because I think that’s really hospice here. I remember her coming important. My mother-in-law looked in for her third surgery, and that broke after my three kids, and they all had an me. When you have a relative who’s ill, incredibly strong bond with her. I also you can’t separate the emotion. As a take my son’s dog, Henry, for walks nurse, you have an extra understanding while he’s at work. My ideal job would be of how serious something can be. I was reading children’s stories at the library a brand new nurse, and I was pregnant. for an hour each week. I love teaching, She never met any of my kids, which was and still being able to learn myself. heartbreaking.

We can’t be stuck in our ways. There’s I have three adult children. As always a different way to do something. children of a nurse they all learned that, We’re just as flawed as anyone else, and unless their arm was twisted or bent at a very strange angle, they were fine. maybe somebody else’s flaw is going to I also have a granddaughter in help me. Everyday, I learn something Duncan, and she’s so much fun to spend new—there’s always something I can time with. There aren’t demands. She’s apply to better who I am.

Support Victoria hospitals and care teams today: victoriahf.ca/give-today

W

hen I applied for the ICU, COVID wasn’t a thing yet.

I remember the day of my interview, back in March 2020, when I got an email saying that it was cancelled because of this new disease that was going around. I’m sure a lot of other people thought there wasn’t really much to worry about, and that it would blow over. In ICU, we see a lot of unfortunate cases, and for a long time we weren’t seeing any silver linings. No huge success stories, and that can take a hit on your morale. You come into this profession wanting to do your best and wanting to help people heal and recover.

And when you get waves and waves of people who aren’t as fortunate, it’s taxing on your soul.

I graduated in 2015, and worked on the same unit for five years. I had a coworker who I had graduated from nursing school with, and who worked on the same unit. We collectively agreed that it was time for a change. ICU seemed like a good fit for us. I’ve been in ICU for just over a year now.

When I was in high school, I felt a very firm confidence that I was going to be in the medical field. I wanted to be close to the patient and have more of a bedside role. My mom, who is a care aid, said, “Well, everything you’re describing is what a nurse does.” I have a bunch of family members who are nurses and who reaffirmed that. Becoming a nurse has been great. I love sharing stories and I think the best part of nursing is that you get to hear other people’s stories too.

My parents and family are also in healthcare. My mom has been a care aid for 25 years and I’ve heard lots of stories from her—just how close she gets with her patients. If one of her residents is going through a rough patch, or if they lose a resident, she gets really emotional.

I think there’s something admirable about having someone who really cares for people in those positions.

My mom recently retired—I say “retired” in quotation marks because she’s still working. She retired when COVID disallowed people from being with each other, and she found the retired life boring because all of her friends were at work. She’s more sociable than I am. The way she presents herself— being ready to do hard work, and be cooperative and amicable with her peers is huge. Going into a new job can be intimidating, u ng Le n but having her as an I va influence in my life t: has been great.

My family is very tight-knit.

My parents moved here from the Philippines back when they were teenagers.

My brother and I were the first generation born and raised in Canada, and we were born in Victoria. Our family used to hang out every Sunday. We would always go for lunch. When you get older, the availability isn’t always there, but it’s always great to be with my family and share food and laughter. Just being with them is enough to get my spirits up.

I love climbing. I’ve been climbing since I graduated from nursing school, and it’s my go-to outlet. It involves a lot of problem-solving, and it’s a great way to shift your focus. I also have a very loving

di

Produced in support of the Victoria Hospitals Foundation

A8

SUNDAY, AUGUST 28, 2022

cre

Support Victoria hospitals and care teams today: victoriahf.ca/give-today

TIMES COLONIST | timescolonist.com

to

timescolonist.com | TIMES COLONIST

Ph o

A8 SUNDAY, AUGUST 28, 2022

partner, and she listens to me. She’s always there to deescalate if I need to be talked down. Those are the two biggest things in my life that ground me.

On a day off, I wake up and have a big breakfast. I get very excited about breakfast. I really love making a French omelet with a good artisanal bread. My girlfriend will tell you that I’m miserable in the kitchen, aside from my ability to cook eggs and mac and cheese. Then, depending on the weather, I’ll either go to the climbing gym, or out climbing and bouldering in the local areas. After I’ve sufficiently tired myself out, I’ll have dinner with my girlfriend and we’ll feed our cat. Then, if it were up to me, I’d be binge-watching Jeopardy! for the entire evening.

There’s a poem that has resonated with me from a Lebanese-Canadian poet named Najwa Zebian.

I got a tattoo based on it, and I love and that it’s always at the forefront for me. It goes, “These mountains that you are carrying, you were only supposed to climb.” This job is taxing on the body, mind, and the soul. Sometimes you’re going to come across situations where you just can’t give more of yourself than you already are. Sometimes you just have to move past it and overcome it, rather than let it weigh you down.

Being with someone when they’re really vulnerable, I think that’s something a lot of people can take for granted. It feels nice to be the one who’s there for someone when they’re in such a critical moment. Since I moved to the ICU, I’m finding that I’m feeling more grateful for the work I do.

One of the things that I love about working in the ICU is that, usually, you have one patient, and you learn everything about that patient’s journey.

You essentially become an expert on this one person. And I think having the time to learn what that person means to the people in their lives is definitely a factor in making some moments very memorable and moving.

I remember my first patient death on the ICU. The family came in and we had done all of the diagnostics and it wasn’t looking good. The doctor went over their options, and they made the decision to go with palliation. And during that hour, when we were having this family conference, I just listened to the stories this family told of their husband and father, and how much of an active member he was in his community. They wanted to honour his wishes, and knew he wouldn’t want to go any further. There was just something about being able to get this human insight into this person.

When we went ahead with the day, he passed away very quickly. Afterwards, I hugged them, and the mother and her daughter left hand in hand.

Read More #HumansFirst Stories at victoriahf.ca/give-today I think being human means being vulnerable. I think it’s admitting that life is hard and we’re all in it together. Looking back, I’d tell my younger self to love yourself in the moment. You look back and you think things like, “I’m not smart enough. I’m not skinny enough. I’m not enough.” But you are enough—and I would tell myself that every day.

— Dr. Sarah Lea, Perinatal Addiction Lead and Outgoing GEO 4 General Practitioner Obstetrics Division Head, Island Health, advocate, future coach, nature-lover, wife, mother, human

I just take huge pride in trying to provide the best care I can, and really trying to make a difference for patients and their families in whatever they’re dealing with. That’s really what drives me. I will always try to provide care in a way that I would like to receive it.

— Barb, Registered Nurse at Victoria General Hospital, runner, hiker, optimist, partner, human

A10 SUNDAY, AUGUST 28, 2022

timescolonist.com | TIMES COLONIST

Support Victoria hospitals and care teams today: victoriahf.ca/give-today

Produced in support of the Victoria Hospitals Foundation

When it comes down to what’s most important in life, and what makes the greatest impact on patients’ recoveries, it’s having loved ones. It’s amazing—time and time again, especially among the sickest of sick patients, it’s those who have loved ones visiting them who often do well. I think being human, really, it’s all about relationships.

Dr. Dennis Kim: Medical Director, Trauma Services, Island Health INNOVATOR, VISIONARY, HUSBAND, FATHER, HUMAN

I

went through the possibilities of many potential occupations. I started with firefighter, police officer, teacher, philosophy professor, lawyer— and eventually settled on medicine.

Growing up, I had always enjoyed things like first aid, CPR, and lifeguarding at the local community pool. Later, in my college years, I realized that I really wanted to do a job where I was helping people. My mother is a nurse. And, during medical school, my grandmother

was actually hit by a car. She sadly ended up passing away as a result.

That event had a big influence on me as I was going through medical school, realizing that the ICU was a very intimidating place to be. I’m usually the kind of person who, when I see a challenge, I try to rise to meet it instead of running away. I decided I wanted to do critical care. In Canada, we don’t see a lot of interpersonal violence— gunshot and stab wounds—and that was my reason for going down the U.S. for my training.

I ended up staying there for 10 years, working at a very busy Level 1 trauma centre in south Los Angeles.

It’s a huge privilege to care for someone in a vulnerable state. It really is. We see people on the worst days of their lives.

Often, trauma patients wake up in the morning, and it’s just another weekday of work. They expect to come home and have dinner with their families.

But on that particular day, they might be catastrophically injured. We see people at their most vulnerable moments, and

HOW YOU CAN SUPPORT VICTORIA HOSPITALS AND CARE TEAMS

E

arly on in the COVID-19 pandemic, community members banged pots and pans at 7 p.m. every evening, and their messages of hope went a long way to make our frontline hospital staff feel supported and appreciated. But our hospitals will continue to feel the effects of the pandemic for years to come, and they need your support more than ever.

When you donate to the ongoing Emerge Stronger fundraising campaign, you empower our local Victoria care teams with Island-first equipment.

And you support their dedication and passion with the advanced tools and technology they need to provide exceptional care, which supports all 860,000+ Vancouver Islanders.

Emerge Stronger benefits every area of care in our three Victoria hospitals. Your donation will touch local patients across all areas for years to come. If a patient is admitted to one of our hospitals, they will almost certainly touch a piece of equipment your generous giving helped fund.

The Emerge Stronger campaign has an ambitious goal to fund 200+ pieces of priority equipment requested by our Victoria hospitals. We are currently halfway to our goal, and we need your help to equip our care teams with the tools they need. When you support our hospitals, you help all of us emerge stronger.

caring for them is a privilege.

It’s an honour. And it’s why I love doing what I do.

When it comes down to what’s most important in life, and what makes the greatest impact on patients’ recoveries, it’s having loved ones. It’s amazing—time and time again, especially among the sickest of sick patients, it’s those who have loved ones visiting them who often do well. I think being human, really, it’s all about relationships.

I am lucky to have a very understanding partner who’s

also in healthcare, and she’s always a great outlet. I am also extremely blessed with a beautiful family—four kids and a puppy. Being able to spend time with them is critical. We like to spend time outdoors, doing things like hiking. There are so many wonderful places to visit on the Island, and I’m only now starting to get out there to see them.

My family moved here during the pandemic when things in Los Angeles were getting out of hand. It was a pretty scary time.

There were so many unknowns, and I was going in and out of a busy county hospital with high rates of COVID-19. I didn’t want to put my family at risk, so my wife brought the kids to Victoria to stay with her sister, and I joined them last October.

There’s a huge therapeutic role for us as providers. We’re helping people, but we’re also helping their loved ones.

Sometimes, the outcome might not be the ideal one. But there are ways we can intervene and, at the very least, help family members understand what is happening to their loved one.

Sometimes, that means helping them come to the realization and acceptance that their loved one will not be going home with them.

There are some patients who can’t be saved. And so, every day, I think it’s important to realize that it’s a good day, and to never take anything for granted.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE VICTORIA HOSPITALS FOUNDATION

F

or over 30 years, donors to the Victoria Hospitals Foundation (VHF) have been making a difference in the health and care of patients across Vancouver Island. As Island Health’s charitable partner, the Victoria Hospitals Foundation works to enable donations to every area of care at Royal Jubilee, Victoria General, and Gorge Road hospitals.

The Foundation runs fundraising campaigns to inspire community giving in order to replace and fund new equipment and technology, build new hospital units, develop new programs, train staff, and ultimately improve the health of the community. When the community unites together for Victoria hospitals, local care teams

can use state-of-the-art equipment much sooner than if we relied on government funding alone, resulting in better delivery of care and patient journeys. It also ensures that patients can stay on the Island for the treatment and care they rely on. The best equipment means local hospitals can attract the best talent from around the world.

VHF is proud that Vancouver Island hospitals can provide worldclass care to the community, thanks to donors. This truly embodies VHF’s vision that “giving makes us all better.” Thanks to the generosity of community donors, the Foundation has raised more than $180 million to benefit our hospitals since 1989. To learn more about the Victoria Hospitals Foundation visit victoriahf.ca.

Victoria Hospitals Foundation Wilson Block 1952 Bay Street Victoria, B.C. V8R 1J8