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Heat Beat: New scopes for VJH

Vernon Jubilee Hospital receives eight new colonoscopes
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Dr. Hamish Hwang and Brenda Stevens pleased with new scopes for VJH’s Ambulatory Care program.

-Vernon Jubilee Hospital Foundation

In January 2019, Ambulatory Care at Vernon Jubilee Hospital received eight new colonoscopes thanks to $275,000 raised by generous donations to the Foundation through the 2017 Light A Bulb Campaign.

READ MORE: Heart Beat: Record breaking year for 31st annual light-a-bulb campaign

Why the wait, you might ask? Interior Health has joined with all BC health authorities to increase their buying power for certain purchases. This process took a while to work itself out, but colonoscopes were included in our Hospital’s requests. The result was fantastic! This enabled us to purchase more scopes than anticipated and get even better mileage from your generous donations.

Last year, 6,387 endoscopic procedures were performed at Vernon Jubilee Hospital. Endoscopic procedures are really important for the well-being of our communities. Colorectal cancer is the 3rd most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer deaths in Canada.

VJH surgeons are excited to have received these new scopes to continue to provide the very best service to patients in the North Okanagan. “Half of the patients we scope have benign polyps removed. These are small tumours that can, eventually, turn to cancer,” said

Dr. Hamish Hwang, VJH General Surgeon. “By removing these polyps, we prevent hundreds of people in our community from getting colorectal cancer every year.”

Colonoscopes enable surgeons to view inside a person’s body in a non-invasive way (no incision required). Scopes are important for diagnosis, and ultimately treatments of a number of conditions. They are specialized, flexible tubes with tiny high definition cameras on the end. These scopes will be used to diagnose a number of different conditions, including cancer.

During a colonoscopy, images appear on a screen for the surgeon to detect abnormalities. Many times, they can address problems right then, at the moment of discovery, and then take action to avoid any future issues for the patient.

Heart Beat is the Vernon Jubilee Hospital Foundation newsletter – Spring 2019

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