Celebrate 50 years of surgical care at Richmond Hospital
Imagine a sharp, crippling pain in your abdomen. An unexplained lump. Or a burst blood vessel. Some of the illnesses and diseases we experience in our lives require emergency surgical intervention and the care of a trusted, talented surgeon.
Surgical care is a vital need in Richmond, and we are fortunate to have an outstanding team of surgeons and physicians who dedicate their own lives to saving the lives of patients.
As part of the 50th anniversary celebration of Richmond Hospital this year, we have a surgical equipment campaign underway to raise funds for surgical excellence here at home.
Introducing Dr. Ken Poon
Dr. Ken Poon, Head of Surgery at Richmond Hospital.
Dr. Ken Poon, Head of Surgery at Richmond Hospital, is an extremely talented—and sought after—world-class urologist. Dr. Poon grew up in Richmond, studied medicine at UBC graduating in 1998, specialized in urology at UBC in 2003 and subsequently completed his fellowship training in Chicago at North Western University for male infertility.
In his own words
In his role as Head of Surgery, Dr. Poon speaks on behalf of all of his fellow surgeons about the work they do, the many advances in technology he’s seeing and how donors are making a huge difference to improve surgical care:
“We have a tremendously talented team here, and that was the attractive thing about coming to Richmond Hospital: the best colleagues, the best levels of care, great nursing staff and other professionals. That really was a draw for many of us.
“All of the surgeons that we have here had opportunities to work at hospitals other than Richmond Hospital. But the reason that we all ended up here was for the environment, the community and our colleagues. Joining a practice is very much like getting married. They’re the people that you see every day when you come to work in Richmond Hospital, and in my own group, they’re personal friends. They’re like family.
Our surgeons always strive to provide optimal care that is uncompromising and in order to do that, we need to have the best equipment. Often times we need very technically advanced, large and expensive pieces of equipment. Having that has allowed us to attract the best people to the hospital.
The equipment that we have allows us to do a full spectrum of treatment here in the hospital. The procedures we perform are becoming more technically complex as we expand the things we are able to do and this allows patients to return to their normal lives more quickly. The types of surgery that we’re doing nowadays would be unrecognizable to surgeons 20 years ago.
The community of Richmond has grown by leaps and bounds. And even in the nearly 40 years that I’ve been in Richmond, the population has quadrupled in size. As you can imagine, a rapidly growing and aging population here has taken its toll on equipment that is wearing out, breaking down or becoming obsolete and can no longer be repaired.
Having excellence in your own local hospital is important because when you need it most, you don’t get to choose the hospital you go to.
The incredible support we receive from donors helps the hospital be very competitive to bring the best and the brightest here for both now and the future. There are few limitations on what you can do if you have the right people and the right equipment. We need to constantly renew our technology and our equipment to make sure that patients we see are provided the absolute best level of care. And I can speak of the gratitude of every single surgeon in this hospital to donors for allowing us to provide that level of care and providing us with the tools that we need.”