Power to Heal Peace Arch Hospital Foundation

When emergencies occur, we rely on local teams of dedicated professionals to get to the scene fast – and first. That’s why police officers, paramedics, firefighters and other emergency personnel are known as first responders. These are the people with the training, skills and equipment that you want to see first when the unthinkable happens and disaster strikes.
But for many first responders, that dedication to helping those most in need doesn’t simply get switched off at the end of a shift. It continues on in the form of giving back – of making the communities they live and work in healthier and safer. And in BC’s White Rock/South Surrey, it’s led two groups of firefighters to pose a challenge to the citizens of the area: “Help us make a difference.” 
Following up on their generous contribution to the new Mental Health and Substance Use Zone in Peace Arch Hospital’s expanded Emergency Department, the Surrey and White Rock Fire Fighters Charitable Associations are back on the donation front lines again to address another crucial need at PAH: new Medical Imaging Technology. This urgently needed state-of-the-art equipment will allow clinicians to better triage patients in both acute care and chronic disease, paving the way for imaging-guided interventions and optimized treatment planning.
In this episode of Power to Heal, we’ll learn how this medical imaging technology campaign adds a twist to the firefighters’ usual approach to fund-raising. We’ll also go deeper to find out what motivates these “heroes among us” to extend their collaboration with the hospital’s healthcare professionals from emergency situations to the long-term wellbeing of the entire community. 
Guests: 
-          Dylan Van Rooyen, Vice President - Surrey Fire Fighters Association & Surrey Fire Fighters Charitable Society 
-          Amy O’Leary, Director of Philanthropy with Peace Arch Hospital Foundation
The Power to Heal is hosted by veteran broadcaster and long-time White Rock/South Surrey resident, Wayne Cox.
About the Power to Heal podcast:
Presented by Peace Arch Hospital Foundation in White Rock, British Columbia, Power to Heal takes you behind the scenes of an innovative hospital Foundation and introduces you to the team who find new and sometimes surprising ways to engage with the local community and help fund the best healthcare possible in the region. 
Since 1988, the Foundation has raised over $210 million for capital projects, medical equipment, and community health programs. Its passionate and caring team’s number one priority is the prudent stewardship of your gifts and the resulting positive impact on patients and medical staff at Peace Arch Hospital and the entire White Rock-South Surrey community.
Download Power to Heal wherever you get your favourite podcasts.
Links:
Surrey Fire Fighters’ Charitable Society 
For more information about the Peace Arch Hospital Foundation, or to make a donation, visit pahfoundation.ca
 

The White Rock/South Surrey area is home to many New Canadians worldwide, including a significant community with roots in China. Like all newcomers to this country, Chinese Canadians can often experience an unsettling transition to their new surroundings, encountering language barriers, strange customs, and, in general, a different way of life that may seem confusing and counter-intuitive to the one they knew in their former country.
Perhaps one of the more bewildering aspects of Canadian life for Chinese immigrants is the one they are most likely to encounter at some point: our provincial healthcare systems, and their reliance on donations and fundraising for new equipment and facilities. For those accustomed to tightly controlled healthcare structures, such as those in China, navigating the somewhat disjointed Canadian system – with its long wait times and aging equipment – must add to any feelings of anxiety and isolation they are already experiencing in their adopted homeland.
However, as we’ll explore in this episode of Power to Heal, there is a way for Chinese Canadians and others new to this country to become better connected and more engaged citizens – and it begins with the simple act of giving.
Guests: 
Cici Liang, Director at Large of the Peace Arch Hospital (PAH) Foundation and President of the Surrey White Rock Community Engagement Society.William Sapphire, Portfolio Manager & Investment Advisor with RBC Wealth Management.Wenjing Zhu, PAH Foundation’s Philanthropy Officer for the Chinese Community.
The Power to Heal is hosted by veteran broadcaster and long-time White Rock/South Surrey resident, Wayne Cox.
Presented by Peace Arch Hospital Foundation in White Rock, British Columbia, the Power to Heal podcast takes you behind the scenes of an innovative hospital Foundation. It introduces you to the team who find new and sometimes surprising ways to engage with the local community and help fund the best healthcare possible in the region. 
Since 1988, the Foundation has raised over $210 million for capital projects, medical equipment, and community health programs. Its passionate and caring team’s priority is the prudent stewardship of your gifts and the resulting positive impact on patients and medical staff at Peace Arch Hospital and the entire White Rock-South Surrey community.
Download Power to Heal wherever you get your favourite podcasts.
Links:
Peace Arch News: Local Chinese Canadians aim to counter COVID-19 backlash
For more information about the Peace Arch Hospital Foundation, or to donate, visit pahfoundation.ca
 
 
 

The sounds of a busy hospital kitchen have changed over the years, including at Peace Arch Hospital in White Rock BC.  New technology and pre-packaged meals, introduced for greater efficiency and cost-savings, have somewhat muted the clanging of pots and pans. But there’s a new movement underway to return to an old concept: full-service food production, with meals prepared from scratch. In this episode of Power to Heal, you’ll learn why these “production kitchens,” as they’re called, are making a comeback – and how they can play a major role in creating shorter hospital stays and improved patient outcomes. 
Here’s a hint: It’s all about choice.
Back in the 1990s, the Canada Food Guide – designed to help Canadians make better, more nutritional food choices – featured a simple, four-colour scheme representing a balanced diet. Variety of choice, it appeared, was in short supply. Later editions of the Food Guide acknowledged that a one-size-fits-all approach didn’t address the complexities of Canada’s rapidly changing demographics, with dietary needs based on age, religion, and cultural considerations increasingly coming to the fore. 
This posed a problem for kitchens in healthcare settings, many of which had been caught up in the trend toward lower-cost pre-packaged meals,  known as “retherme.” But lately, and especially in countries like the United States and Great Britain, there has been a return to the “production kitchen,” a place where a more flexible, personalized menu of made-from-scratch meals can be produced from fresh ingredients. 
In this episode of Power to Heal, you’ll meet a food service expert who is a vocal supporter of the production kitchen, and the many benefits, great and small, it can bring to the patient experience at hospitals like Peace Arch.
Guests: 
Susan Kelly, regional manager of support services, including food operations, with Fraser Health.Amy O’Leary,  director of philanthropy for the Peace Arch Hospital Foundation.
The Power to Heal is hosted by veteran broadcaster and long-time White Rock/South Surrey resident, Wayne Cox.
Presented by Peace Arch Hospital Foundation in White Rock, British Columbia, the Power to Heal podcast takes you behind the scenes of an innovative hospital Foundation. It introduces you to the team who find new and sometimes surprising ways to engage with the local community and help fund the best healthcare possible in the region. 
Since 1988, the Foundation has raised over $210 million for capital projects, medical equipment, and community health programs. Their passionate and caring team’s number one priority is the prudent stewardship of your gifts and the resulting positive impact on patients and medical staff at Peace Arch Hospital and the entire White Rock-South Surrey community.
Download the Power to Heal wherever you get your favourite podcasts.
Links:
For more information about the Peace Arch Hospital Foundation, or to donate, visit pahfoundation.ca
 

It’s a medical condition known as the “silent thief.” It can occur over several years without any obvious symptoms. By the time it is diagnosed, this disease which impacts at least 1 in 3 women and 1 in 5 men is already advanced and more difficult to treat.
It’s osteoporosis, a condition that causes bones to become thin and more susceptible to breakage. In fact, osteoporosis is the reason for over 80% of all bone fractures in people over fifty. While no single cause for this condition has emerged, many research programs are underway into prevention strategies that can help patients find ways to avoid refracturing and hospitalization – an all too common occurrence. 
In this episode of Power to Heal, you’ll meet a physician who is conducting specialized research into the area of osteoporosis and fracture prevention. You’ll also be introduced to a spinal fracture patient who has regained some of her mobility – and hope – thanks partly to her active role as a “patient partner” in this ground-breaking research program.
Discover what a “bone attack” is, and learn about the challenges to fund an “FLS” (Fracture Liaison Service), a clinically proven and cost-effective method of improving the rate of osteoporosis treatment and/or referrals to an osteoporosis specialist.
Guests: 
Dr. Sonia Singh, hospitalist physician and osteoporosis consultant based at Peace Arch Hospital“Cheryl,” a retired teacher with osteoporosis and a “patient partner” in Dr. Singh’s research program
The Power to Heal is hosted by veteran broadcaster and long-time White Rock/South Surrey resident, Wayne Cox.
Presented by Peace Arch Hospital Foundation in White Rock, British Columbia, the Power to Heal podcast takes you behind the scenes of an innovative hospital Foundation. It introduces you to the team who find new and sometimes surprising ways to engage with the local community and help fund the best healthcare possible in the region. 
Since 1988, the Foundation has raised over $210 million for capital projects, medical equipment, and community health programs. Their passionate and caring team’s number one priority is the prudent stewardship of your gifts and the resulting positive impact on patients and medical staff at Peace Arch Hospital and the entire White Rock-South Surrey community.
Download the Power to Heal wherever you get your favourite podcasts.
Links:
Osteoporosis Canada
Learn about the Fracture Liaison Service (Fraser Health)
For more information about the Peace Arch Hospital Foundation, or to make a donation, visit pahfoundation.ca
 

The garden at the Ellen Sinclair Kennett Lodge in White Rock, British Columbia, has a special feature that isn’t a plant or decorative touch. It’s there, but It’s also invisible, at least at first glance. That’s because this tranquil spot, found at a Long-Term Care facility near the city’s Peace Arch Hospital, is built around a philosophy – a belief that nature can provide peace and comfort for both hospice patients and their families. 
In this episode of Power to Heal, you’ll meet a former nurse turned professional gardener who has found new meaning in her work by becoming a therapeutic horticulturalist – a specialist in plants and nature, and their unique ability to bring comfort to those entering the final stage of their lives. 
With support from generous donors and the Peace Arch Hospital Foundation, her expertise has helped transform a basic courtyard garden into something very special: a therapeutic garden for hospice patients and their loved ones. The Vern and Helga Hoing Tranquility Garden, set in a quiet area behind the Lodge’s Melville Hospice Home, now provides a calming space for end-of-life patients – some wheeled out in their beds – to spend peaceful moments with their families. 
Learn how a carefully planned hospice garden can provide comfort to those with terminal and life-limiting conditions and for their loved ones too.
Guests: 
Caroline Les, Master Gardener and owner and operator of The Little Garden Company.Logan La Roue, Manager, Strategic Communications at Peace Arch Hospital Foundation
The Power to Heal is hosted by veteran broadcaster and long-time White Rock/South Surrey resident, Wayne Cox.
Presented by Peace Arch Hospital Foundation in White Rock, British Columbia, the Power to Heal podcast takes you behind the scenes of an innovative hospital Foundation and introduces you to the team who find new and sometimes surprising ways to engage with the local community and help fund the best healthcare possible in the region. 
Since 1988, the Foundation has raised over $210 million for capital projects, medical equipment, and community health programs. Their passionate and caring team’s number one priority is the prudent stewardship of your gifts and the resulting positive impact on patients and medical staff at Peace Arch Hospital and the entire White Rock-South Surrey community.
Download the Power to Heal wherever you get your favourite podcasts.
Links:
The Little Garden Company 
(News release) Funding is now complete for Ellen Sinclair Kennett Lodge
For more information about the Peace Arch Hospital Foundation, or to make a donation, visit pahfoundation.ca

In early summer of 2023, the Peace Arch Hospital Foundation Lodge was renamed in honour of the Foundation's first board chair, Hospital Auxiliary Member, health care trailblazer and White Rock/South Surrey community advocate, the late Ellen Sinclair Kennett. Her connection with PAH stretches all the way back to 1948, when Ellen began fundraising for what would eventually become Peace Arch Hospital – an important healthcare centre in the region that she continued to advocate for and support for the remainder of her life. 
In this special, series-opening episode of Power to Heal, you’ll hear from several people who knew Ellen well and experienced first-hand her passion for giving back to the community she loved. Starting with her rural childhood as the daughter of Danish immigrant farmers, Power to Heal will explore the influences that helped shape this remarkable woman’s journey from hospital auxiliary fundraiser to board chair in the male-dominated world of non-profit leadership. 
In addition to the voices of those who loved and admired her, you’ll also hear from Ellen herself. In excerpts from a 2016 archival interview, she recounts the dire conditions back in the 1940s which led the only hospital in the area to announce that it would no longer accept patients from Surrey – a momentous decision that inspired Ellen and others from the White Rock community to begin fundraising for a hospital of their own. But that’s just one part of the Ellen Sinclair Kennett story, which encompasses raising a family, the death of her first husband, and volunteering for seemingly countless community organizations. 
Host Wayne Cox leads a sometimes humorous, sometimes emotional conversation about a caring, inspirational, and selfless woman – a true community champion who put her heart and soul into the betterment of White Rock and South Surrey for everyone who calls this area home.
Guests: 
Lynne Sinclair, a former teacher and White Rock city councilor and Ellen’s daughter from her mother’s first marriage.Jane Manning, a former board chair of the Peace Arch Hospital & Community Health Foundation, worked closely with Ellen during retirement home visits and fundraising events. 
This episode’s guests are joined by Stephanie Beck, Peace Arch Hospital Foundation’s Executive Director, who would often call on Ellen for expert advice during her earlier role with the foundation as Director of Major Gifts. 
The Power to Heal podcast, presented by Peace Arch Hospital Foundation in White Rock, British Columbia, takes you behind the scenes of an innovative hospital Foundation and introduces you to the team who find new and sometimes surprising ways to engage with the local community and help fund the best healthcare possible in the region. 
Since 1988, the Foundation has raised over $210 million for capital projects, medical equipment, and community health programs. Their passionate and caring team’s number one priority is the prudent stewardship of your gifts and the resulting positive impact on patients and medical staff at Peace Arch Hospital and the entire White Rock-South Surrey community.
Download the Power to Heal wherever you get your favourite podcasts.
Links:
The Ellen Sinclair Kennett Lodge becomes official at renaming ceremony (news release)
For more information on the Peace Arch Hospital Foundation, or to make a donation, visit pahfoundation.ca