Your Impact

From carrots and broccoli to potatoes and beans, patients and residents at St. Joseph’s Parkwood Institute are enjoying fresh vegetables grown in their own backyard. The vegetable garden is one aspect of the Nourish Project – a multi-year program with ‘food first’ and ‘food is medicine’ philosophies...

For Lisa Walters, community involvement is a way of life. As a family lawyer, her role is to help people – parents, children and families, and often that can lead to stressful and intense situations. She says that giving back as a volunteer means she can enrich the lives of people in the community...

Myrra Webber was diagnosed with cancer when she was 33 years old. With two little girls, one of whom was diagnosed with leukemia two years later – it was an incredibly difficult time for the Webbers. And despite receiving outstanding health care, having a mastectomy and radiation treatment Myrra’s...

“Having a brain injury feels like none of the pieces connect anymore,” says Maura Brisbane who received care through St. Joseph’s Rehabilitation Program. “It’s like when you shake a snow globe and the sparkling snow swirls through the globe before settling somewhere completely new.” Maura says she...

The healing power of nature With mounting evidence of the benefits of plants to an individual’s physical and mental health, a beautiful living wall was installed at Mount Hope Centre for Long Term Care, thanks to donor support. The sustainable living wall features three panels full of plant life and...

Inside Sylvia O’Connell’s (née Winstanley) closet at Parkwood Institute hangs her battle dress uniform from the Second World War. The jacket’s green wool and precise stitching have remained in pristine condition since she served in the Canadian Women’s Army Corps, stationed in England. It’s the...

At 15 years old, Alec Cook knew he couldn’t continue living with the status quo. He was struggling with gender dysphoria, unable to access the health services he needed. “There wasn’t much available to help me at the time and I sometimes felt like I wasn’t being heard by health providers,” he says...

Dr. Narinder Paul calls it a game changer. A powerful new PET/CT scanner with the potential to personalize disease diagnosis and treatment for patients. “We’re the first in the country to have this PET/CT machine,” says Dr. Paul, Chair/Chief of Medical Imaging. “It offers the most sophisticated and...

Kim Spriet was diagnosed with Stargardt disease, an inherited form of macular degeneration, as a young adult. But it wasn’t until her late thirties that the progressive vision loss started to impact her daily life. “I started questioning, will I be able to travel? Will I see my kids get married...