The second annual Stone Centre event was held at the Paetzold Health Education Centre on June 23, 2015.
With over 100 participants , this event featured educational talks from the Stone Centre’s Doctors, as well as research engagement and participatory hands on learning. The audience was composed of past and current patients at the Stone Centre as well as family members, friends, and community guests.
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000Educational talks on kidney stone epidemiology, diet and prevention, and research strives to improve prognosis kick started the event, followed by two patient perspectives and an interactive session. Guests were then given the opportunity to mingle with each other and with health care providers to ask any further questions and/or participate in current research studies.
As part of the interactive session the dietitians held hands on dietary advice session with visual presentation. There was also a ureteroscopy simulator that was run by the urology residents where guests had the opportunity for hands on feel of a kidney stone removal procedure. At the general stone disease information and research booths guests could learn more about clinical and laboratory research projects (including a video presentation of the research laboratory), have conversation with the research team, and pick up brochures and pamphlets for more information.
Judith Andrew and Lynn Tomita are registered dieticians at the Chronic Kidney Disease Clinic. At the event they presented a talk on diet and how it affects the chances of developing stones. They stressed the importance of a healthy diet and went over thorough dietary recommendations on fluids, sodium, fruits & vegetables, protein oxalate and calcium.
Following the success of the 2015 Stone Centre event, the Stone Center team here at VGH has decided to start a focus group. The focus group will serve as a tool to further our efforts in bridging the gap between doctor and patient perspectives. Making sure that patients’ needs and concerns are listened to and met is a top priority for the Stone Centre team. In bridging this gap we hope to raise our standards of care, focus our research efforts and decrease the amount of stress that patients have when dealing with their stone disease. We are currently in the recruitment process and are looking for potential candidates.
Overall this years’ event was larger and even more informative than last year! Thanks to generous help from the Stone Centre team and donors for refreshments and door prizes we were able to make this event happen. For a list of our donors please see a list below. If you missed out this year, please do not hesitate to contact us for more information and future patient engagement initiatives including our patient focus group and fundraiser, via phone: 604-875-4111 ext. 62421, or email: olga.arsovska@ubc.ca.
Charitable Donors:
https://www.choicesmarkets.com/
http://vancouverwateradventures.com/
http://www.broadwaywineshop.ca/
