We are pleased to share that VGH has once again been recognized with the Platinum Level ELSO Award for Excellence in Life Support for its excellence in delivering ECMO care. VGH is the only hospital in British Columbia to receive this international award in two consecutive cycles (2022–2025 and 2026-2028) and it is currently the only adult Platinum Level Center of Excellence in Canada. This recognition reinforces the hospital’s role as a provincial and national leader in critical care and innovation, and the power of philanthropy in driving world-class care.

“The VGH ICU and the ECMO program is a place where the sickest patients in the province receive the highest level of care,” says Lori Quinn, VGH Emergency and ICU Operations Director. “This distinction recognizes an incredible team with the highest level of skill and competency, and the quality systems in place to provide this level care of care to anyone who needs it.”

ECMO helps critically ill patients when their heart and lungs are unable to perform their functions. It allows time for these organs to heal by oxygenating the blood outside the body and pumping the blood back into the body. For some patients, ECMO provides crucial support while they await lung transplant surgery. At VGH, approximately 50 people per year receive ECMO as a part of prolonged support and management in the Intensive Care Unit, and 30 to 40 others receive temporary ECMO support during surgery.

VGH’s program is one of the few in the province to implement an ECLS Specialist model, enabling critical care nurses to provide focused, expert care to ECMO patients. This model, along with strong interdisciplinary teamwork with ICU, Perfusion Services, Cardiac and Thoracic Surgery, and Emergency and Surgical units, helped distinguish our program from others.

“It is a privilege to provide this level of care to our patients,” says Hannah Rosenberg, Clinical Nurse Specialist in the ICU. “Behind this recognition is a deeply collaborative, skilled, and dedicated team that continuously strives to improve how we care for people at their most vulnerable.”

Source: Vancouver Coastal Health 

VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation partners with donors to fuel groundbreaking research, world-class health care teams, and life-saving treatments benefitting everyone in BC. To donate, visit vghfoundation.ca/ways-to-give.