A new ebook is offering an insider’s look into the minds, work and personal histories of Fraser Health staff.
Humans of Fraser Health is inspired by the iconic photoblog Humans of New York.
The project is more than two years in the making.
Fraser Health communications staff collected stories and recently published them online to showcase the individuals who work in medical facilities from Burnaby to Boston Bar.
According to Dr. Victoria Lee, president and CEO of the organization, who wrote an introduction to the ebook, the initiative is one way to acknowledge a few of the 35,000 “unique people” who work for Fraser Health in clinical settings, information technology, finance, administration, food and volunteer services.
“People often picture nurses and physicians when they think of health service providers,” said Lee. “It’s time to widen the frame. Fraser Health is a diverse community of 35,000 unique people. We serve one in 20 Canadians. Many work in clinical settings while others are operating behind the scenes in areas such as information technology, communications, finance, administration, food and volunteer services to name a few.”
Lee said the 70 profiles featured in the ebook provide a snapshot of the Fraser Health family.
“Telling their stories brought our shared values – respect, caring and trust – into focus,” she said. “Whether you are the head of anesthesia, a portfolio manager for IMIT, our morgue coordinator or a nurse working in the community, when we share our authentic selves and stories, we can treat each other with compassion and can come together as one team.”
One of the profiles is on Marilyn Chan, spiritual health practitioner at Delta Hospital.
Chan was a pastor for 20 years where she experienced profound, sacred moments accompanying people through the final phases of life. Those experiences set her on her path.
She said she is honoured to be featured in the ebook.
“I was nominated by someone, I’m not sure who nominated me from the hospital. It was an honour, quite surprising for me,” said Chan. “I think getting a sense of the person who is behind the profession is good. I know when I went through the book I enjoyed the stories. In health care, the immediate things that come to mind are the doctors and nurses, so to get a sense of the whole complement of staff that are necessary to make our health care system function is really important.”
Chan is coming into her fifth year with Fraser Health.
“I find the work immensely rewarding,” she said. “The community at Delta Hospital – I think Delta Hospital is the jewel of Fraser Health, so I feel really fortunate to be at this particular site.”
You can read the ebook here.
- with a file from Tri-City News
