We know it can be scary or overwhelming to visit an emergency department, and you may wait longer than you’d like to receive care. We’re here to care for you and look after you – and all the 2,000 people who visit our emergency departments every day.

This episode goes behind the scenes of our emergency departments to explore the challenges facing them, how patients are triaged and what contributes to wait times. Host Dr. Victoria Lee is joined by Dr. Craig Murray, an emergency physician at Surrey Memorial Hospital, and Mary Van Osch, who leads our Emergency Medicine Network.

Chapters
What is an emergency department? – 1:30
Know your care options – 3:30
The triage process – 5:09
Wait times – 6:53
Why are more people visiting emergency departments? – 17:33
What happens when someone is admitted to the hospital? – 26:29
Why you may be asked the same questions many times – 42:01

Guest bios
Dr. Craig Murray is an emergency physician as well as the co-regional medical director and co-regional department head for Emergency Medicine at Fraser Health.

Mary Van Osch is the regional lead for Fraser Health’s Emergency Network.

About The Heart of It
Every episode, Dr. Victoria Lee, president and CEO of Fraser Health, takes listeners to the heart of health care, where passion, dedication and innovation drive individual, community and planetary health.

Listen to and watch more episodes of The Heart of It here. And be sure to subscribe to The Heart of It in your favourite podcast player app so that you don’t miss a beat.

This episode of The Heart of It was recorded on the traditional, ancestral and unceded shared territories of the q̓ ic̓əy̓ (Katzie), q̓ʷɑ:n̓ƛ̓ən̓ (Kwantlen), kʷikʷəƛ̓ əm (Kwikwetlem), Qayqayt and Semiahmoo First Nations, treaty lands of the sc̓əwaθən məsteyəxʷ (Tsawwassen) First Nation, and on the home of the Surrey-Delta Métis Association.

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Bernice Oxley is our guest this week for a conversation about the many ways we use technology to look inside bodies so that we can diagnose, treat and monitor medical conditions. This includes X-rays, CT scans, MRIs, mammograms and ultrasounds.

Bernice is a regional director for Medical Imaging at Fraser Health. She takes us behind the scenes of medical imaging, sharing how we performed 13,000 more CT scans and MRIs last year than the year before, what happens during imaging, how to prepare, and how to turn mammograms into memorable experiences.

Chapters

What is medical imaging?

Wait times

Why you were able to get a CT scan at 3:00 a.m.

What happens during a scan or X-ray and how to prepare

New technologies

Making mammograms memorable

Guest bio

Bernice has been a technologist for 38 years and is the director of Medical Imaging for our Fraser East sites. She is passionate about medical imaging, especially in introducing it to students and focusing on recruitment.

About The Heart of It
Every episode, Dr. Victoria Lee, president and CEO of Fraser Health, takes listeners to the heart of health care, where passion, dedication and innovation drive individual, community and planetary health.

Listen to and watch more episodes of The Heart of It here. And be sure to subscribe to The Heart of It in your favourite podcast player app so that you don’t miss a beat.

This episode of The Heart of It was recorded on the traditional, ancestral and unceded shared territories of the q̓ ic̓əy̓ (Katzie), q̓ʷɑ:n̓ƛ̓ən̓ (Kwantlen), kʷikʷəƛ̓ əm (Kwikwetlem), Qayqayt and Semiahmoo First Nations, treaty lands of the sc̓əwaθən məsteyəxʷ (Tsawwassen) First Nation, and on the home of the Surrey-Delta Métis Association.

Send us a Text Message.

This episode covers many of the mental health supports provided by Fraser Health. If you visit an emergency department or mental health centre in your community, contact our virtual health service or receive a referral, our teams are here to help you.

Host Dr. Victoria Lee is joined by Dr. Anson Koo, Fraser Health’s program medical director and regional department head for Psychiatry and Mental Health. They discuss our community-based and digital services, why we’re seeing more mental health concerns over time, and how we decide to keep someone in the hospital against their will because we’re concerned about their mental health.

Chapters

How to start getting help for your mental health

Virtual services

Stigma is reducing, but still exists

Coming to an emergency department with a mental health concern

Children and youth mental health

Involuntary admissions and the Mental Health Act

Guest bio

Dr. Anson Koo provides operational and medical leadership for the Mental Health and Psychiatry clinical programs in Fraser Health. His clinical focus lies in adult psychiatry and inpatient psychiatry, and his broader areas of interest include medical education and medical administration.

Learn more

Mental health services

Emergency help for mental health concerns

Community mental health centres

Virtual psychiatry unit

Mental Health Act

About The Heart of It
Every episode, Dr. Victoria Lee, president and CEO of Fraser Health, takes listeners to the heart of health care, where passion, dedication and innovation drive individual, community and planetary health.

Listen to and watch more episodes of The Heart of It here. And be sure to subscribe to The Heart of It in your favourite podcast player app so that you don’t miss a beat.

This episode of The Heart of It was recorded on the traditional, ancestral and unceded shared territories of the q̓ ic̓əy̓ (Katzie), q̓ʷɑ:n̓ƛ̓ən̓ (Kwantlen), kʷikʷəƛ̓ əm (Kwikwetlem), Qayqayt and Semiahmoo First Nations, treaty lands of the sc̓əwaθən məsteyəxʷ (Tsawwassen) First Nation, and on the home of the Surrey-Delta Métis Association.

Send us a Text Message.