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Read the latest stories about what's going on at St. Joseph's Health Care London.

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Do you have dementia?

Have you ever walked into a room and forgotten why you were there? Do you lose your keys or your cell phone or find yourself searching for a word in a conversation? Are you worried these are signs you may have memory problems and even dementia? While 40 per cent of us will experience some type of memory loss as we age, the World Health Organization says 5 to 8 per cent of people will develop dementia. According to the Alzheimer’s Society of Canada 76,000 Canadians are diagnosed with dementia every year and 60 to 80 percent of them have Alzheimer's disease. Dementia is an overall term for...

Helping to heal

“I was surprised when I got the call,” smiles Chris Boyd. “I never expected it and I could hardly believe it.” The unexpected call was from the Governor General’s office of Canada. Chris was given the exciting news that she was one of this year’s recipients of the Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers...

John Chmiel holding two different types of containers for collecting feces used in fecal transplants

The secret super powers of poop

Fecal transplants are saving lives and their potential is flush with possibility. But there’s a desperate need for donors. It’s quite the conversation starter. At parties or gatherings, when someone asks John Chmiel what he does, he gets a kick out of telling them “I sell poop for money.” It’s true...

group of people holding up large vanity cheque

Community cycling event hits higher gear for mental health

For the second year in a row, the Forest City Cycling Challenge rolled past its fundraising goal on the path to support youth mental health research and the purchase of exercise bikes for St. Joseph’s Mental Health Care Program

Man gets eye checkup at Ivey Eye Institute

Protecting our most precious gift – our ability to see

Delicate and intricately complex, it’s essential for vision. It’s also a common culprit in the loss of that gift. The retina contains millions of cells that work together to detect light and communicate with the brain. But aging and various health conditions can lead to retina complications that can...

St. Joseph’s prescribes lifestyle as medicine

For years, 58-year-old Mark Alfieri had missed all the signs of type 2 diabetes. The ones he did notice – numbness and pain in his hands and feet – he dismissed as part of a long-standing back injury. He also admits to abusing his body with less than stellar eating habits and an addiction to sugar...

Introducing Ian Gillespie: host of St. Joseph’s all-new DocTalks Podcast

After careers as an actor, reporter and writer, Ian Gillespie has added a new role to his repertoire — podcast host. Ian hosts the all-new DocTalks Podcast — a conversation with experts from St. Joseph’s on what’s new and relevant in Canadian health care. He first sat behind the microphone in May...

a large group of parade participants wearing clothes with the pride stripes holding a pride-themed sign that reads "Embracing the diversity of our community with pride."

St. Joseph's participates in London's Pride Parade

Despite the call for rain, more than 40 participants from St. Joseph's Health Care London marched in London’s Pride Parade. Staff and physicians were joined by their family and friends for the walk, which was back after a two-year pandemic hiatus. The parade route started at the Western Fairgrounds...

Grace Hicks holding her horse Nova by the bridle as it nuzzles her shoulder

A horse of a different colour

The smell of wet grass filled her nostrils as avid rider Grace Hicks tumbled with her horse when the mare slipped on sod slick from a rainfall the day before. In that moment, her life took a devastating turn. “We both went down hard,” says the 20-year-old. “It was a fluke accident. The right side of...

eleven members of the spinal cord injury care team reaching their hands together in a show of cooperation

St. Joseph’s a key partner in enhancing care for spinal cord injury patients across Canada

An estimated 85,556 Canadians live with spinal cord injury (SCI), a number that the Praxis Institute for SCI predicts to rise to 121,000 by 2030. More than half of those SCI’s are caused by traumatic injuries. “Many of our patients have had their lives drastically changed, in an instant,” says Dr...