Ernie Hamm from Osoyoos has been a volunteer with the Patient Voices Network for more than four years and he has loved every minute of it. The organization is looking for more volunteers like Hamm to get involved in several new initiatives being offered in the South Okanagan. Hamm has been volunteering his time to work with people who are suffering from chronic pain. He says the Patient Voices Network does a terrific job working with volunteers who want to make a difference in trying to improve Canada’s health care system. (Contributed photo)
Ernie Hamm loves to lend a helping hand and he’s been thoroughly enjoying donating his time with the Patient Voices Network (PVN).
The Osoyoos senior, 77, has been volunteering with PVN for more than four years and has loved every minute of it.
“I just volunteer in any area where they need help,” he said. “My big thing is trying to help people who are suffering from pain as I’ve suffered from chronic pain for most of my life.
“I’ve been volunteering my time to work with people who suffer from chronic pain and doing what I can to try and improve our health care system to help those, like me, who are looking for better ways to treat pain.”
Hamm said PVN does a terrific job of working with volunteers who want to make a difference in trying to improve Canada’s health care system.
There’s a real need for more young people to get involved with organizations like PVN, he said.
“Most of the volunteers I deal with are older and we really need an infusion of young people,” he said. “It’s these younger people who are going to be using and needing the health care system in future years and we really need their assistance and input.”
Carol Stathers, Engagement Leader with the Patient Voices Network (PVN), described the organization as a community of patients, families, caregivers, and friends working together with health care partners to improve our health care system.
“PVN connects health care organizations and initiatives with volunteers who have experience to share,” she said.
PVN was created in 2009 by the BC Ministry of Health and has been administered by the BC Patient Safety & Quality Council since December 2015.
“We currently have opportunities open in both the South Okanagan and specifically Osoyoos and Oliver and are looking for volunteers,” she said. “We provide a great day to involve patients and the public in improving our health care system.”
Some of the key areas where volunteers are currently needed, include:
• Stroke Rehabilitation Collaborative – Patients share their experience with a team of health care specialists to help maximize stroke patients’ functional recovery;
• Oliver/Osoyoos End of Life Standing Committee – Volunteers will join a committee of specialists to develop a work plan to integrate comprehensive and high-quality delivery of palliative care in the South Okanagan area. It is the goal of the OOPCSC members to promote the integration of comprehensive, high-quality and seamless delivery of Palliative Care (PC) for individuals, families and caregivers in the South Okanagan. The committee will seek to do so by providing collaborative leadership in the development, implementation and integrated delivery of PC by optimizing human, organizational and financial resources of the stakeholders;
• Interior Health Residential Care Framework Redesign Advisory Committee (10-14 volunteers);
• The aim/purpose of this opportunity is to engage in residents/families in redesigning the various elements of Interior Health’s residential care framework to ensure they can continue to provide quality residential care aligned with the strategic priorities from the Ministry of Health, and achieve expected outcomes;
• Interior Health Complaint Process Focus Group (IH wide Aboriginal Specific) (10 volunteers);
• To hear the Aboriginal patient perspective on the current complaint process within Interior Health. This information will be taken into consideration as efforts are made to develop and trial a new culturally appropriate complaint process.
Stathers recently spent a day in Osoyoos sharing information and trying to recruit some new volunteers.
As the title of the organization implies, the PVN is about allowing members of the public to advocate for patients accessing the health care system, said Stathers.
“We try and provide a voice for people accessing the health care system,” she said. “Health care professionals want to seek and listen to patient voices so plans can be put in place to make improvements to the current health care system.”
Interior Health is fully supportive of PVN and works in collaboration with the various volunteers spread throughout the province, said Stathers.
A big part of her job is finding qualified volunteers, she said.
“We currently have about 90 volunteers in the Southern Interior region, but we need more and there is a particular focus on getting more from both Osoyoos and Oliver,” she said.
Hamm is currently the only volunteer from Osoyoos.
The Interior Health southern region stretches from Princeton to the Alberta border, north to golden and north towards Williams Lake and 100 Mile House, she said.
The Ministry of Health has shown strong support for PVN and the goal is to take the best recommendations from the volunteers and implement them to improve the provincial health care system in the coming months and years, said Stathers.
Stathers said she would be quite happy to return to Osoyoos or Oliver to provide orientation training to new volunteers.
“The more volunteers we recruit, the more effective our program will be,” she said.
If you might be interested in becoming a volunteer with PVN, you can contact Stathers at her office in Summerland at 1-778-516-3308 or by email at [email protected].
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
