Fall 2021

Welcome to Renal News Express -- highlighting happenings from our BC kidney network!

In this issue

Meet BC Renal's Leadership Team

British Columbia's kidney care network, which includes BC Renal, the regional health authority renal programs, patient and family partners, and a range of partner organizations, is recognized provincially, nationally and around the world as a best practice model for planning, delivering and continuously improving care for those living with chronic kidney disease. At the hub of the network is BC Renal, a small organization with a big mandate.

Here, we're pleased to highlight the individuals who make up the BC Renal leadership team. With brief summaries of their roles and answers to our one-question Q & A, we hope you gain new insight into how each contributes to better care for patients in BC.
 

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Kidney Foundation Highlight

New fund for Indigenous kidney health & wellness

St. Paul’s Foundation and The Kidney Foundation of Canada, BC & Yukon Branch are proud to partner in the new Dr. Angus Rae Scholarship & Patient Support Fund for Indigenous Kidney Health & Wellness. With over $30,000 already raised for the inaugural award, you can help reach the goal of $50,000. For more information and to donate, visit the fund page or contact Ramya Hosak, Director of Philanthropy at ramya.hosak@kidney.ca.

Resources in Action

Home blood pressure monitoring resources for patients of BC’s kidney care clinics

Q & A with Dr. Mike Bevilacqua, Chair of BC Renal’s provincial Kidney Care Committee

Excerpt from Q & A

Q: What is taking place with these resources?

Our committee recently launched an initiative to support home blood pressure monitoring by kidney patients who attend any one of BC’s 15 Kidney Care Clinics (or Centres) around the province. This potentially includes about 13,000 registered kidney patients who are neither on dialysis nor have had a kidney transplant.

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People Profiles

Mary Lewis, Patient Educator, Home Hemodialysis, Providence Health Care

Mary Lewis is currently based out of the East Vancouver Community Dialysis Unit. The unit is run by Providence Health Care, one of six regional health authorities that are part of BC Renal’s provincial network of kidney care providers. Mary has been in nursing for an inspiring 40 years, and for the past 17 years has been a patient educator in home hemodialysis.

Read Q & A

Let’s Take Action on Patient Goal-Setting

Transition guides help patients take an active role in their care

BC Renal transition guides are one set of tools in the toolbox described in BC Renal’s patient goal-setting strategy. Each tool is aimed at helping patients and care teams work together to identify what’s important to patients in their care and well-being and support them in setting goals that matter most to them. 

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Video Spotlight

3 kidney-friendly recipes demonstrated!

If you’ve never seen this very popular 5-minute video featuring demos of how to put together chicken and salmon options for 3 kidney-friendly meals, have a look today! Also a great refresher for those who have already watched or tried the recipes! See what ingredients you will need and how to cook chicken thighs in wine sauce, sesame ginger salmon, and chicken nuggets. Kidney patients, if you’re uncertain about whether these foods are appropriate for you, please consult your renal dietitian.

View the Video

Thanks to the renal dietitians at St. Paul’s Hospital and the St. Paul's Foundation Enhanced Patient Care Funds for making this video possible! For more kidney-friendly resources for shopping and healthy eating, see BC Renal’s Diet page.

Focus on Patient Engagement

Are you familiar with our patient and family engagement resources?

Patient and family engagement in BC Renal committees and activities is key to achieving a kidney health system that is responsive to the needs of patients and families. The BC Renal website provides background and connects health professionals, patients and family members with several resources. A key document is our Patient and Family Engagement Framework that guides readers through the seven steps of engagement. The Get Involved section of our website covers what it means to be a “patient partner” and how to get involved with particular committees and activities. See Patient and Family Engagement. If you have questions or would like more information, please email patientengagement@bcrenal.ca.

#TopPosts

In our Q & A with project manager Sarah Thomas, we get a behind-the-scenes look at the BC Renal “It’s Better at Home” video series to learn about the special nature of these home dialysis videos: http://ow.ly/Z9K850FmfMN #HomeDialysis #HomeHemodialysis #PeritonealDialysis The Kidney Foundation of Canada, BC & Yukon Branch PKD Foundation of Canada

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💦🔥 Patient booklet: Emergency Preparedness Information for Dialysis Patients. For wildfires, floods & more. Includes useful forms for patients to fill out before an emergency occurs. See: http://ow.ly/HeIc50EY474 #BCRenalNetwork #DialysisPatients #EmergencyPreparedness


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PROMIS Tips

For health professionals using our PROMIS information system

Submitted by Charles Hoare, Change Lead, PROMIS

Wondering how to do something in PROMIS? Interested in understanding new features or need a refresher after some time away? PROMIS provides a range of training resources, including instructor-led online training as well as self-directed online learning courses. Tailored one-to-one sessions are also available on request.

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COVID-19 Information for Kidney Patients & Health Professionals

Patient health and safety remain our highest priority. Our COVID-19 web pages have links to the latest BC Government information on how to get vaccinated. In addition, a number of our handouts related to clinical care for hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, home hemodialysis and kidney care (non-dialysis) patients have been updated in recent weeks. Please see our patient and health professional web pages for details:

COVID-19 Information for Patients

COVID-19 Information for Health Professionals

Awareness Week

Oct. 3 - 9 is Living Kidney Donation Week!

From Oct. 3 - 9, BC Transplant and BC Renal are raising awareness about the incredible gift of living kidney donation as well as resources to support kidney patients and potential donors through the process.

To view resources, see Living Donation.

Congrats!

Drs. James Lan and Davide Cina receive MSFHR funding awards

Congrats on these 2021 Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research funding awards for studies being carried out with the University of British Columbia.

Dr. James Lan has received a MSFHR Scholar award for “Implementation of a Canadian willingness to cross program: A strategy to increase access to kidney transplantation for highly sensitized patients.” Dr. Davide Cina has received a MSFHR Research Trainee award for “T-cell repertoire analysis for immune monitoring in renal transplantation.”

Read more about the awards program and recipients here: Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research awards

Research & Quality Improvement Publications

Here are the most recent publications: 

Event Spotlight

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We acknowledge with gratitude that our BC Renal offices are located on the traditional, unceded territory of the Coast Salish, home of the Musqueam, Tsleil-Waututh and Squamish peoples, as well as the Métis chartered communities of the Lower Mainland