Clinical Activities

Clinical Activities

The Mary Pack Arthritis Centre (operated by Vancouver Coastal Health; Director, Dr. Alice Klinkhoff) runs extensive drug and disease monitoring clinics, including the Immunosuppressive Clinic (Director, Dr. John Kelsall), the Cyclosporine Clinic (Director, Dr. Andrew Chalmers), the Out-Patient Day Program (Director, Dr. Alice Klinkhoff), the Gold Clinic (Director, Dr. Alice Klinkhoff), the Young Adults with Rheumatic Diseases Clinic (Co-Directors: Dr. David Cabral, Dr. Angela How), and two Combined Clinics in Orthopaedics and Oral Pathology (Director, Dr. Bruce Blasberg). A new Combined Clinic in Dermatology, under the direction of Dr. Jan Dutz, started in June 2007.

The Mary Pack program coordinates the travel of divisional faculty to provide consultation and treatment services in 22 remote locations across the province, including amongst others Trail, Cranbrook, Fort St. John, Prince George, the Queen Charlotte Islands, and Alert Bay. It also provides a variety of educational workshops for patients, as well as physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and access to social workers and vocational counselors.

Ambulatory care clinics offered at St. Paul’s Hospital include those for scleroderma (Director, Dr. James Dunne), low back pain (Director, Dr. Jean Gillies) and a rapid-access program (Director, Dr. John Kelsall). A Lupus Clinic will be starting at St. Paul’s Hospital under the supervision of Dr. Jennifer Reynolds.

A rapid-access clinic for early rheumatoid arthritis patients has been started and is staffed by Drs. David Collins, Alice Klinkhoff, Lucie Wilk, Diane Lacaille and Andrew Chalmers. This clinic will be part of a Canadian network of early rheumatoid arthritis clinics and will share data for research purposes.

GF Strong Rehabilitation Centre (GFS) is British Columbia’s largest rehabilitation centre. As a freestanding facility, GF Strong provides inpatient, outpatient, outreach and clinical support services to clients/patients in four unique programs: Acquired Brain Injury, Spinal Cord Injury, Arthritis and Neuromusculoskeletal.
Since 1949, GF Strong has worked closely with community partners to address the needs of people with disabilities throughout British Columbia and the Yukon.
GF Strong provides a broad range of clinical services, including specialized care at Mary Pack Arthritis Centre. Through its affiliation with the University of British Columbia and other academic organizations, G.F Strong participates in leading rehabilitation teaching and research.
Dr. Robert Offer in Penticton has extensive involvement in teaching including rheumatology fellows, residents and medical students. He is involved in many continuing-education events for physicians. Penticton is the major rheumatology resource for the interior with a well-staffed Mary Pack Treatment Centre at Penticton Regional Hospital and a drug monitoring clinic covering more than 500 active rheumatoid arthritis patients. Dr. Offer does outreach traveling consultation clinics and now telemedicine to Creston, as well as research and clinical trials.

Hospitals: 

Vancouver General Hospital

With 955 beds, Vancouver General Hospital (VGH) is the province’s largest hospital offering specialized and tertiary services to residents in Vancouver and across the province. VGH takes patients referred from other parts of the province requiring highly specialized services. VGH is also a teaching hospital, affiliated with the University of British Columbia, and home to one of the largest research institutes in Canada.

Web : http://www.vch.ca/facilities/hospitals/vgh/

St. Paul’s Hospital

St. Paul’s Hospital is an acute care, teaching and research hospital located in downtown Vancouver. It is home to many world-class medical and surgical programs, including cardiac services, HIV/AIDS and kidney care.
St. Paul’s serves both the local community and patients from across BC and the Yukon.  Click here for more information on our History. 

Click here for the address and contact info for St. Paul’s Hospital.

PATIENT’S GUIDE

Our online Patient’s Guide provides detailed information on our Health Care services. Click here to download and print our online Patient’s Guide.