Editor’s note: This is a follow up to the health hero photo that appeared in last week’s issue of the Prince Rupert Northern View.
Each year the Health Employers Association of BC (or HEABC) acknowledges the best in British Columbia’s publicly funded health care community with the Excellence in BC Health Care Awards.
This year at the fifth annual award luncheon held last month at the Pan Pacific Hotel in Vancouver, Prince Rupert local Lorette Robinson was awarded with the Health Care Hero award for the Northern Health category.
“It was very nice to be acknowledged that way,” said Robinson, who is the Manager of Medical Imaging at the Prince Rupert Regional Hospital,
“It was quite an honour.”
Recipients in each category of the Health Care Hero award are given recognition for their hard work efforts, and the passion and dedication they put into their work.
Robinson has done just that, being the first person in Northern Health to be credentialed in Nuchal Translucency scanning, which uses prenatal ultrasound to measure the amount of fluid at the back of a prenatal baby's neck. The measurement and mother’s age are then used to estimate the chance that the baby could have Down Syndrome or two other chromosome conditions called Trisomy 13 and Trisomy 18.
After Haida Gwaii lost its ultrasound services, Robinson helped assure people living there would still have the same opportunities as people living in Prince Rupert; to be able to get the services at home, with no costly traveling fees.
Robinson developed the scheduling, budgeting and staffing in Prince Rupert so that she could make a monthly trip over to Masset to conduct an ultrasound clinic, with hundreds of patients making use of her travels.
Additionally, under Robinson’s leadership, the Prince Rupert Regional Hospital was the first in the north to offer CT colonoscopy a procedure using CT technology to obtain a visual recording of the colon or large intestine.
For this, and other impressive reasons the Regional Director in Prince George nominated Robinson for her passionate work ethic.
But Robinson says it’s not all because of her that she was recognized with the award.
“This is one award given to one individual per health authority, but I didn’t do everything by myself. I have a fabulous department here that lets me put lots of plans in place and help implement them,” commented Robinson on her department in Northern Health.
Additionally, at the Excellence in BC Health Care Awards the Prince Rupert Regional Hospital was granted an Award of Merit in the Workplace Health Innovation category for the Musculoskeletal Injury Prevention program at the hospital. The program was created to reduce the risk of musculoskeletal injuries by focusing on areas like communication, education, evaluation, etc.