This year, our research team had the pleasure of presenting insightful kidney stone information to our research team alongside our colleagues from the University of California, Los Angles! This was an eventful evening where we presented to over hundreds of attendees. The goal of the webinar was to educate patients on various surgical, lifestyle, and diet choices to better fight against kidney stones. The video of the webinar can be viewed below.
Hello stone patients!
We are inviting you to our annual patient information night to be held online (virtually) on August 31, 2021 at 5-7pm (PDT). Please RSVP via this link. This year, we will also enjoy collaborating and hearing from the Kidney Stone Centre experts from UCLA in addition to our experts at The Stone Centre at VGH from UBC. Dietitians, urologists, nephrologists and researchers will be talking about kidney stones–what causes them, how to treat them and how to avoid them. Researchers will let you know about the cutting edge research we are performing.
Thank you and we hope to see you there!
Topics of the Webinar:
The main goal of this year’s event was to educate the general community on how diets can affect kidney stones and in particular the various different diets that have been popular among the general public. By educating patients on the various diet options, the Stone Centre team wanted to promote healthy and knowledgeable decision making in respect to patients’ dietary habits, as well as to minimize any confusion or misunderstanding about how different foods can affect the formation of stones. Dr. Zalunardo is a nephrologist who provided her expert knowledge in handling kidney stones and provided information on when a nephrologist should be a part of a stone patient’s care. Dr.Chew discussed what types of imaging is available to patients, and the pros and cons of each imaging modality. Lastly, Dr.Chew and Dr.Lange spoke about the new ground-breaking kidney stone research that has been happening at VGH. Near the end of the Webinar, we held a Q&A session where many of the participants’ questions were answered by the clinicians. Although we hold patient information events annually, our team decided to take our event online through Zoom due to COVID19. Through this event, the Stone Centre team wants to foster a sense of community between the Clinicians, Researchers and Stone Patients so that no patient feels helpless or alone in their fight against kidney stones.
In light of the COVID-19 concerns, we are going to cancel the 2020 Patient Information night and will determine at a later date if we will have one this year. With all of the medical concerns regarding this pandemic, we feel this is the socially responsible thing to do. Thank you for your understanding and please adhere to the public health officer’s recommendations on how to keep our citizens, city and country safe.
The Stone Centre at VGH presents
Come join us for a night of interactive discussion and information session with world renowned experts on kidney stones.
Date: Tuesday Feb 4th, 2020
Time: 6:00pm – 8:30pm
*Registration is from 6:00pm-6:30pm (talks start exactly at 6:30pm so please arrive before then)*
Location: Vancouver General Hospital, Jim Pattison Pavilion, Paetzold Education Centre, 889 W 12 Avenue, Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9
Important Info: There will be dedicated times for questions and also a more engaging interactions with the dietitians in small groups. To help us better prepare for the night please RSVP here.
Light refreshments will be served and guests are absolutely welcome!
Please forward your questions in advance and follow this link to RSVP for this event:
Elliya’s talk presented at the Vancouver Coast Health Research Institute’s 2017 Research Medicine Expo at Vancouver General Hospital – “Erythropoietin Signalling After Ureteral Obstruction” won Best Speaker Award!
Elliya Park is a master’s student at the Stone Centre Laboratory who work s under the supervision of Dr. Dirk Lange of Urologic Sciences. Her research at the Stone Centre focuses on erythropoietin signalling after ureteral obstruction. This research has many implications in urologic medicine with respect to recovery of the ureter after it is obstructed (in particular by kidney stones).
Congratulations to Elliya!
The Stone Centre’s 4th Annual Patient Engagement Event: “Shattering Stones – Which Treatment is Best for Me?” was another successful night in what has become a cornerstone event for the Stone Centre team and it’s patients.
The main goal of this year’s event was to educate the general community on kidney stones and in particular the treatments available for kidney stones. By educating patients on the various treatment options, the Stone Centre team wants to promote healthy and knowledgeable decision making with respect to stone disease, as well as to minimize any confusion or misunderstanding about stones. Additionally, the Stone Centre team wants to foster a sense of community between the Urologists, Researchers and Stone Patients so that no patient feels helpless or alone in their fight against kidney stones.
The event is non-profit, and is sponsored by community donors that graciously provide us with the venue, refreshments, snacks, and door prizes. We collaborate with both Vancouver Coastal Health as well as the VGH Foundation many months in advance in order to organize and provide the best event possible for our patients.
This year’s event started with a presentation on the different treatment options that the Stone Centre has to offer as explained by Urologists Dr. Ben Chew and Dr. Ryan Paterson. This presentation also included an interactive discussion with a group of 4 patient panelists that had undergone the different treatments. The patient panelists offered their unique perspectives on the treatments they had experienced, including the factors that influenced them in making their decision. This combination of information presentation and discussion was the first of its kind at this event. The discussion between the Urologists and Patient Panel was well received and provided guests with both a professional and patient perspective on different treatments as well as the various pros and cons of each treatment. (If you would like to see the animations that were shown during the presentations of each treatment please click HERE to visit our treatment options page.)
Following this presentation, Dr. Dirk Lange, the director of Basic Science at the Stone Centre, presented on the various clinical projects that are ongoing at the Stone Centre. This included interesting information on the prevalence and role of antibiotics during stone treatment surgery, in particular for infection stones (struvite) which the Stone Centre is the first to conduct. This presentation also touched on the sensitive topic of antibiotic misuse. One of the goals of the Stone Centre’s research is to determine effective, efficient and appropriate antibiotic regimes to prevent misuse and promote health and well being. (For more info on any of our antibiotics study, please click HERE to visit our active clinical trials page).
The presentation portion of the event ended with a question and answer period. Guests were invited to submit questions on slips of paper that were then answered by Dr.’s Chew, Paterson Lange and the patient panel. Raffle prizes were drawn which concluded the formal presentation portion of the event. The last half hour of the event featured a mingling session in the lobby of the Paetzold auditorium with light refreshments and snacks provided. The whole Stone Centre team from both the clinical and laboratory sides were available to answer questions from any of the guests. The Stone Centre’s dietitians – Judith Andrews and Lynn Tomita – were also available to answer the many questions about diet, prevention and stone disease.
If you would like to get involved in the Stone Centre’s ongoing research, or if you would like to get involved with the Stone Centre as a volunteer please visit our CONTACT US page where you get can in touch with us through either email or phone. If you took home a study package at the event and have any questions please feel free to contact us as well.
The Stone Centre is always looking for ways to improve its quality of care and research. If you would like to contribute an idea, or have feedback regarding the event please send us an email as well.
A big thank you to the VGH Foundation for their help in organizing the event, printing materials, social media presence and helping with setup and takedown!
A big thank you to our sponsors this year who provided the snacks, refreshments and raffle draw prizes!
We look forward to seeing you all again at our next event!
RSVP BELOW!
We invite you to join us for the fourth annual Stone Centre Patient Engagement Event.
Date: Wednesday June 14, 2017
Time: 6:00pm – 8:30pm
*Registration is from 6:00pm-6:30pm (talks start exactly at 6:30pm so please arrive before then)*
Location: Vancouver General Hospital, Jim Pattison Pavilion, Paetzold Education Centre, 889 W 12 Avenue, Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9
Important Info: Come join the Stone Centre Team for a night of interesting discussion and presentations about kidney stones and the various treatment options for kidney stones.
There will be time for questions as well as dieticians on hand to answer diet related inquiries. Light refreshments will be served. Guests are absolutely welcome!
Dr. Ben Chew has been teaching undergraduate medical students in hands on clinical settings since he joined the Department of Urologic Sciences. He has been an integral part of the Department of Urologic Sciences and its teaching program. Dr. Chew’s enthusiasm for teaching has inspired and helped many students along their career path. This year we congratulate him for being recognized as the 2016 Undergraduate Teacher of the Year! An award that is decided upon by the medical students rotating through urology who have had the opportunity to learn from Dr. Chew.
