Healing Better - St. Paul’s Foundation

At St. Paul’s Hospital, we believe that healing starts with being heard.

We’ve spent over a century combining bold innovation with deep compassion to push the boundaries of care.

Now, we’re building a future beyond treatment—where Healing Better means rethinking care from the inside out.

St. Paul’s Hospital is Healing Better through compassionate, patient-centred care.

As BC’s referral hospital for cardiac care, obstetrics, lung, renal, seniors care, and digestive health, we treat the whole person—not just the condition.
Our wraparound model brings specialists together across departments to meet each patient’s unique needs.
St. Paul’s Hospital has a specialized team of Indigenous Wellness Liaisons who provide a range of cultural, spiritual, social, and emotional support.
As a leading teaching hospital in Canada, we train future care providers to see the whole person and look beyond illness.

St. Paul’s Hospital is Healing Better through groundbreaking medical research and innovation.

We are the only centre in the province to perform adult heart transplants and highly specialized cardiac care for patients with advanced heart failure and heart transplants.
Sepsis is the leading cause of death worldwide, and work done by St. Paul’s leading doctors led to a game-changing sepsis drug treatment shared around the world.
The Centre for Heart Lung Innovation ranks #1 in Canada and #3 worldwide for its expertise in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease that affects over 385 million people worldwide.
We are BC’s only specialized cardiac obstetrics program caring for expectant moms and their newborns facing cardiovascular conditions—the leading cause of maternal mortality.

St. Paul’s Hospital is Healing Better through a legacy of firsts that continue to shape the future of care.

We opened the first clinic to care for Vancouver’s Chinese community more than 100 years ago, when no one else would.
In 1960, we built a heart-lung bypass machine, making coronary bypass operations possible.
We established Canada’s first intensive care unit (ICU) in 1966–now a standard in acute care hospitals nationwide.
In the 1980s and 90s, our care for patients with HIV/AIDS led to St. Paul’s Hospital developing a life-saving treatment now shared worldwide.

Every person has a story.

Healing Better is a journey we take together: one patient, one moment, one breakthrough at a time.

Healing and hope for chronic pain patients.

One in five Canadians live with chronic pain. St. Paul’s Hospital is leading innovative, interdisciplinary care—helping patients manage pain and reclaim their lives.

After years of debilitating pain and being dismissed by countless doctors, Keith Meldrum found relief at St. Paul’s Hospital. A spinal cord stimulator transformed his life, and now he is helping others living with chronic pain find hope too.

Rewriting the prognosis for sickle cell disease.

Sickle cell disease is a painful, chronic condition that can cause strokes, organ failure, and severe depression. As a leader in patient-centred care, St. Paul’s Hospital supports a diverse community living with this complex disease.

At just six months old, Dammy Ogunseitan was diagnosed with sickle cell disease and told he wouldn’t live past 18. Thanks to personalized care at St. Paul’s Hospital, Dammy is now thriving in his 40s.

Helping patients with cystic fibrosis breathe again

Not long ago, cystic fibrosis (CF) was a death sentence where most patients didn’t live to adulthood. In 1979, St. Paul’s Hospital opened one of North America’s first adult CF clinics and has been pioneering care ever since.

Diagnosed with cystic fibrosis as a toddler, Kim Wood spent decades struggling to breathe. After joining a clinical trial at St. Paul’s Hospital for a new drug called Trikafta, everything changed. Within 24 hours, she felt her lungs open up—experiencing her first full breath. Thanks to breakthrough treatments like Trikafta, patients are breathing easier and living longer, fuller lives.

Preventing sepsis—the number one cause of death worldwide.

Sepsis causes over 11 million deaths each year—more than heart attacks or cancer. St. Paul’s Hospital is home to the world’s leading expert in septic shock research, Dr. Jim Russell, whose breakthrough treatment is saving lives globally.

One of those lives is James Stitchman’s. Rushed to St. Paul’s in critical condition, what initially appeared to be a stroke was quickly diagnosed as sepsis triggered by COVID-19. Thanks to swift action and our world-class expert care, James was home in just nine days.

What Healing Better looks like

A whole new campus designed to support Healing Better.

Sitting on 18 acres just east of Vancouver’s downtown core, the Jim Pattison Medical Campus will be home to the new St. Paul’s Hospital—a first-in-Western Canada facility that will drive clinical care and research.

A larger Teck Emergency Department equipped to reduce wait times and serve patients better.

Built to LEED Gold Standards for green buildings, including sustainability features to optimize energy efficiency, minimize emissions, re-use heat, manage rainwater, and more.

A sky bridge will link the hospital to the 12-storey research centre—a purpose-built facility where the world’s leading doctors, scientists, and researchers will work side by side.

"I am filled with so much gratitude. If you have a heart problem, St. Paul’s is the place to be. I was so lucky to be a patient here."

- Lorraine Wilson, heart surgery patient

"When I did find out that sepsis was the culprit and how deadly it can be, I thought, ‘Wow, I really dodged a bullet here, thanks to the people at St. Paul’s.’"

- James Stitchman, grateful patient and sepsis survivor

"I was in the ICU and felt hopeless. Now I can stand here and look at my own heart, and say I have a second chance at life, thanks to the St. Paul’s Hospital heart transplant team."

- Man Hung Chiu, heart transplant recipient

"Every single person has gone above and beyond. The care team has allowed me to reclaim my life and do things I never thought possible."

- Karam Roberts, vasculitis patient

"My new heart has just been a gift – the gift of time with my daughter, husband, and extended family."

- Christine Boutin, heart transplant recipient

"Because what I remember the most is the care, the compassion, and the love."

- Jamie, grateful sepsis survivor

The Healing Better campaign is made possible thanks to the generous support of: