Vancouver Coastal Health
Vancouver Coastal Health is a public health region in British Columbia, Canada.
It encompasses urban and rural communities including Richmond; Vancouver; the North Shore (West and North Vancouver); Sunshine Coast; Sea to Sky corridor; Powell River; Bella Bella and Bella Coola plus 14 Aboriginal communities, totalling over 1.2 million residents (nearly 24% of the province's population). It operates on an annual budget of $3.8 billion.1)
Facilities
VCH has 1300 acute care beds, 6700 residential beds, 80 rehabilitation, 900 assisted living/respite beds.
Hospitals and Acute Care Facilities
Diagnostic and Treatment Centres
Providence Health Care
VCH works in partnership with Providence Health Care in Vancouver to take patients referred from across the province, accounting for 46 percent of all inpatient specialized care for British Columbia.
PHC Hospitals
COVID-19
Vaccination Campaign
In March 2021, people who had recovered from COVID-19 within less the last three months were not eligible for a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine product.2)
Rapid Tests
In January 2022, VCH distributed rapid antigen tests for at-home SARS-CoV-2 testing. Guidance included with these tests instruct individuals who test positive to report their case to the BC Centre for Disease Control, and not to seek a “confirmatory PCR test”.3)
Affiliations
VCH Research Institute
The VCH Research Institute is one of Canada’s top funded research organizations, with a total of $103 million in research funding for 2019/2020. It is the research arm of VCH and a health partner of the University of British Columbia. More than 900 principal investigators conduct clinical and discovery research.
Staff
Dr. Patricia Daly is the Vice President, Public Health and Chief Medical Health Officer for Vancouver Coastal Health.4)
1)
VCH at a Glance. (2020). Vancouver Coastal Health. https://web.archive.org/web/20220120124908/http://www.vch.ca/Documents/VCH-fact-sheet.pdf
2)
VCH COVID-19 Vaccine Campaign Intergrated (sic) Operating Committee. (2021, March 22). First dose COVID-19 vaccine available for psychologists providing direct care. College of Psychologists of British Columbia. https://collegeofpsychologists.bc.ca/email/210322-Memo-Vaccine-eligibility-for-psychologists[3].pdf
3)
Vancouver Coastal Health. What to do after your COVID-19 rapid test. Retrieved January 16, 2022, from https://www.campfire.wiki/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=vch_-_what_to_do_after_your_covid-19_rapid_test.pdf
4)
Dr. Patricia Daly. Vancouver Coastal Health. Retrieved February 1, 2022, from https://archive.ph/H5PBn