Welcome to the first edition of the new Specialist Services e-newsletter entitled: SSC Focus. This is a quarterly newsletter that provides you with short articles about what is going on with BC specialists and the work SSC is doing to support you.

Creating a Provincial ERAS Network

A number of BC hospitals have implemented Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) programs. We are working with key stakeholders to establish a provincial ERAS Network. Learn more by viewing the online webinar – and get involved – contact sscbc@bcma.bc.ca

Knowledge Seeker and Organic Farmer

Dr. Chester Morris knows about healthy eating and it’s not just because he’s a doctor. It’s because along with his wife, Nicky, and their nine year-old daughter, Mara, he runs Morris Farm in the Port Alberni area. Truth be told, his wife and daughter run the organic farm and he’s the help. Fortunately for Port Alberni residents, his real job is as a general internal medicine specialist. He’s also a senior associate at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and spent 10 years working in Africa. 

Telehealth Wound Care: Transcending Barriers to Care

In BC, all but two specialities now have a fee code for telehealth service. The Specialist Services Committee has funded three telehealth projects under the Quality and Innovation Initiatives. One project is linking plastic surgeon Dr. Tony Papp, who heads complex wound and burn care in Vancouver Coastal Health, to patients in Bella Bella and Power River. 

Rheumatology

Each issue we'll profile a specialty in BC - challenges, initiatives and/or SSC sponsored supports. This month - rheumatology.

With more than 150 disease conditions that they diagnose and treat — including arthritis, lupus, gout, vasculitis, scleroderma and other systemic autoimmune conditions — BC's rheumatologists have "fascinating patients with complex problems that often require digging to solve a mystery," says Dr. Jason Kur, president of the BC Society of Rheumatologists.