Offering A Spectrum Of Care To Patients Across the Province

One of just two centres in BC for comprehensive renal care including kidney transplantation, St. Paul’s takes a patient-centred approach to caring for people at every stage of the disease. “Our job is not just to focus on people with chronic kidney disease who need transplant or dialysis, but also to keep the other 80 per cent well by helping them avoid the pitfalls that might lead to kidney failure,” says St. Paul’s nephrologist and head of Providence Health Care’s Division of Nephrology, Dr. Monica Beaulieu.

The Renal program at St. Paul’s, which has provided a full range of services for kidney patients for over 30 years, supports those suffering from kidney disease in multiple ways and in multiple venues.

• It serves patients at clinics around the province and makes outreach visits in addition to caring for them at the hospital in Vancouver.
• In-hospital services include vascular access (establishing and maintaining access points on the body for dialysis), transplant surgery and dialysis, among others.
• Patients from across BC come to St. Paul’s for transplantation and for post-transplant follow-up care. St. Paul’s also treats people who experience sudden kidney damage, including those who require dialysis or therapeutic plasma exchange.
• Patients with multiple conditions – kidney disease in combination with diabetes, for example – are steered to the Integrated Care Clinic, the first such clinic of its kind in Canada, which offers the services of subspecialties including endocrinology. Specialists from dermatology and psychiatry also provide integrated care for many kidney patients.
• People with chronic kidney disease from across the Lower Mainland, up the coast and even from Whitehorse in the Yukon receive care at or under the guidance of St. Paul’s renal program.