April

The anticipation, the excitement, the unknown, and the unrelenting desperation to deliver a healthy baby are shared by every woman in pregnancy. Respect and the opportunity to participate in one’s own decisions in childbirth are likely assumed as automatic. But according to the World Health Organization (WHO), that is not necessarily so. 

On 6 October 2017 the Women’s Health Research Institute (WHRI) in Vancouver located on the BC Women’s Hospital campus helped to launch an awareness campaign titled #ItsNotInYourHead. This campaign, championed by Dr Lori Brotto, a women’s health researcher, clinician, and executive director of the WHRI, centres on a chronic genital pain condition called provoked vestibulodynia (PVD).

The Facility Engagement Initiative continues to gain momentum with 69 hospital-based physician groups now organized and leading more than 500 projects across BC. So what is energizing this activity?

Mainly, it’s relationships. My father, who was an obstetrician, worked at the tertiary care teaching hospital in Edmonton. He used to say he would not infrequently see Dr Snell—the CEO of the hospital at the time—in the hallway. If there was an issue to discuss, the two of them would just talk about it. 

Between 2009 and 2016, WorkSafeBC accepted almost 1880 claims for acromioclavicular (AC) joint injuries. More than 80% of injured workers were males in the construction, service trades, or transit operator sectors. Only 1% required surgical correction, while others received appropriate rehabilitation. Treatment of type-III (completely displaced) AC joint injuries (Figure) has been controversial.