As surgeons, we are almost always focused on what comes next: the next patient, the next procedure, the next challenge in front of us. But today, I pause to tell you how profoundly our working environment has changed in only a few short years. Because of philanthropy, the conversations taking place inside our operating rooms, the procedures we can perform, and the possibilities we can offer our patients at RJH and VGH are very different from what they once were.
What began as a vision for advancing surgery has created new possibilities across Urology, Gynecologic Oncology, General Surgery, ENT, Thoracics, Pediatrics, and Neurosurgery. New ideas are taking root. New procedures are available on the Island. New benefits are supporting the system as a whole, including helping reduce wait lists. New partnerships are forming. Exceptional specialists are seeing what is happening here and choosing to bring their expertise, ambition and careers to Vancouver Island. Most importantly, I see the difference for our patients who are undergoing complex procedures through smaller incisions, and recovering sooner. The difference is night and day, and we are not the same surgical team we were two years ago when It’s Time started.
That is what makes me especially proud. Together, we have created an environment where innovation is embraced, collaboration is growing, and care teams are empowered to think bigger about what they can achieve for patients. And for everything we have accomplished, there is no standing still. We continue to ask how we can improve outcomes, increase access, build capacity and deliver more sophisticated care here at home. We are now expanding our focus across the full continuum of surgical care, and across more specialties, culminating this journey with It’s Time for Surgical Transformation.
Imagine a patient with a tumour receiving a highly targeted treatment, without the need for an operating room, general anesthesia or a hospital stay. For patients like Don, who has shared his story below, Interventional Radiology is a gift when surgery is not even an option. The next phase of our campaign will double capacity for this type of precision medicine and is a gift to all on the Island.
Now imagine a patient arriving with multiple traumatic injuries, a life-threatening vascular condition or a complex cardiac emergency. Instead of moving between separate spaces for imaging, diagnosis and intervention, the patient receives highly coordinated care in a new type of operating room where surgery and imaging come together, allowing imaging to take place during procedures, and critical decisions and treatments to happen more efficiently when every minute matters.
These two patient experiences may appear very different, but they are connected by the same goal: delivering the right surgical care, at the right time, in the right setting. They also point toward the next opportunity before us with our third chapter of the campaign, and the need to elevate capability and capacity for Stroke, Cancer, Cardiac, and Vascular care.
It’s Time for Surgical Transformation will reach further across Surgical Services and the patient journey than ever before, addressing the complexities that come with an aging and growing population. I am especially excited for you to meet more of the specialists bringing extraordinary expertise, ambition and vision to our region, and to see the innovation they are ready to advance. As we launch It’s Time for Surgical Transformation, I hope you will lean in and consider becoming an early champion. Together, we have a rare opportunity to create anew standard of care for generations to come. The time is now.
On behalf of all our caregivers, I thank you.
