"Innovation includes technology but also innovative thinking about how our medical teams can collaborate effectively to ensure optimal health care delivery, close to home."
Dr. Cara Wall, Hospitalist, Chief of Staff, KGH
HOW YOUR GIFT WILL MAKE AN IMPACT
World-Class Health Care, Right Here at KGH
The KGH Foundation is committed to raising funds to ensure our health care partners have the support they need to re-imagine the health system through addressing and transforming complex, system-wide challenges and barriers to sustainability, accessibility and equity in the delivery of care. This commitment includes allocating funds to establish the Indigenous Peoples Wellness Fund to support the health and wellness of Indigenous communities in the Okanagan.
WHY GIVE?
Health care needs to change.
While the pandemic revealed the limitations of our current health care system and the need to find new solutions to better serve communities, it also showed us what we can do. We can develop partnerships and innovate rapidly; pivot and implement change; and reimagine equitable care. It demonstrated the importance of embracing virtual care and technology, as well as the value of private industries in the delivery and support of health care. To build a system of health care that is sustainable, inclusive and accessible to everyone living in the southern interior, it was made clear that we must work collaboratively.
The Closer to home than you think campaign is a $40 million commitment to address our communities’ most urgent needs while taking steps to ensure our health care partners have the support they need to re-imagine the health system. For us to make this vision of a re-imagined health system real, we must innovate.
UNDERSTANDING THE FUTURE OF HEALTH CARE
Health innovation is the development of new ideas through collaborative initiatives, industry partnerships, and research to transform patient care and enhance the efficiency of the health system. It can be categorized into four distinct areas:
RESEARCH
Analyzes best practices and implements learnings to current practice.
BREAKTHROUGH
Develops a new process or system that has significant wide-sweeping impact on regional health care.
SUSTAINABLE
The ongoing development of process efficiencies to continually improve the delivery of care.
DISRUPTIVE
Challenges the status quo and advocates for community concerns to drive change.
Your clinicians and physicians are continually thinking of ways to provide interior patients with better access to quality care. Yet, the journey from concept to implementation of these innovative solutions requires significant time and resources—things that are in short supply amidst the demands of clinical care. This highlights the importance of allocating funds for dedicated time, allowing physicians to pursue projects that not only enhance care quality and accessibility but also increase efficiency and promote sustainability within our health care system.
THE FUTURE OF HEALTH CARE
Body Donor Lab
An 18-month pilot project to run a Body Donor (Cadaver) medical training program for KGH emergency physicians at the Southern Medical Program’s laboratory based at UBC Okanagan. As the first of its kind in Western Canada and second in the country, the Body Donor Lab will set a new standard for medical education and training. The purpose of the pilot project is to offer KGH emergency physicians a unique opportunity to practice extremely rare yet critically important and highly complex medical events, commonly referred to as High Acuity, Low Occurrence (HALO) events. The training program will feature the top HALO procedures most likely to occur in the KGH emergency department, embodying some of the most challenging medical scenarios where physicians have mere seconds to perform a life-saving procedure. The Cadaver Lab exemplifies that your health care teams not only work tirelessly to ensure that you receive the best care possible, but they also train to be ready to help you when you need them most.
WelTel Texting Project
The WelTel Pediatric Diabetes Texting Project aims to enhance communication and engagement with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) patients and their parents through secure SMS text messaging. The first two successful phases completed at Vernon Jubilee Hospital (VJH) showed that text messaging significantly increased interactions between care providers and patients, improved workflow, and provided timely support, alleviating stress for families managing pediatric T1D. It is now in its third phase (spread), which expands the project to Penticton Regional Hospital, Royal Inland Hospital, and Kelowna General Hospital.
THE CENTRE FOR HEALTH SYSTEMS LEARNING AND INNOVATION
Representing a critical step forward in advancing health care solutions for the Southern Interior, the Jim Pattison Foundation has committed a transformational $5 million to establish the Centre for Health Systems Learning & Innovation. This Centre, in partnership with Interior Health and the KGH Foundation, promises to revolutionize the landscape of health care innovation in BC’s interior.
With a physical hub at Kelowna General Hospital, the Centre will operate as a virtual network connecting innovators, clinical teams, researchers, patients and families, and community partners. Together, we will create research-based solutions that tackle the diverse and complex health care challenges facing our regional communities.
INNOVATION IN ACTION
C-POLAR in Long-term Care
Dr. Dee Taylor and her research team are undergoing a double-blind study with two 200-bed long-term care homes in the Interior to trial the effectiveness of C-POLAR by embedding it in the art and HVAC systems at one of the sites. The infection rate amongst the staff and residents will be measured to determine the effectiveness of C-POLAR in reducing the spread of airborne and surface viruses/bacteria. It will be the first study of this type in Canada with Harvard researcher, Dr. Michael Mansour, leading the study.
"The Centre will focus on health systems transformation, aiming at unique targets. This includes advancing equity, accessibility, and the sustainability of health-care, and enabling physicians, clinicians and community care providers with resources to not only provide world class care but to explore what an optimal system could look like. "
Dr. Deanne Taylor, IH Corporate Director of Research
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
A gift to support innovation offers the benefit of unlocking a matching contribution from the Jim Pattison Foundation to support the Centre for Health System Learning & Innovation which will hold an important role in advancing this work.
Help us bring innovative solutions to health care in the Southern Interior and double your impact today.
This Centre, in partnership with Interior Health and the KGH Foundation, promises to revolutionize the landscape of health care innovation in BC’s interior.
It is the first of its kind with a unique focus on rural, remote, Indigenous, and community health care. It aims to be a virtual network connecting innovators, clinical teams, researchers, patients and families, and community partners. Together, we will create research-based solutions that tackle the diverse and complex health care challenges facing our communities.
HEALTH SYSTEMS INNOVATION
Latest Stories
Campaign Update
The Kelowna General Hospital Foundation’s Closer to Home Than You Think campaign has reached the $26 million landmark.
Red Chuck Taylors and a Mega-Watt Smile
Remembering Dr. Doug Cochrane, incredible physician and previous Chair of the Board of Directors for Interior Health.
Steering Innovation
Discover how Dr. Deanne Taylor’s quest for innovation at KGH is shaping the future of health care in the Southern Interior.
