Our history
For over 130 years, Providence Health Care has been home to extraordinary people achieving remarkable advances.
Our achievements came about through the passion and courage of individuals and teams who were drawn to the culture at Providence, a culture that allowed them to pursue solutions to problems they faced in day-to-day care of patients and residents. They discovered and implemented new and better ways to deliver health care and they answered problems once thought unsolvable.
High-profile Providence Health Care “firsts”
Birthplace of Treatment as Prevention for HIV/AIDS
This is the place where Dr. Julio Montaner discovered how to not die from HIV/AIDS. Today, the treatment protocols he introduced have become the global standard of care and have turned HIV from a death sentence to a chronic, manageable disease.
Pioneers in minimally-invasive heart valve surgery
It’s where Dr. John Webb pioneered a minimally-invasive way to replace heart valves without open heart surgery. This has changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people globally who would have otherwise been told surgery wasn’t an option.
North America’s Leading Model of Integrated Youth Services
Where Dr. Steve Mathias recognized the urgent need for youth-specific mental health outreach. His idea became Foundry: a place where young people can drop in and get support for mental wellness, substance use, family dynamics, employment, and social connection all under a single roof. Today, there are 23 Foundry locations in communities across BC with 12 more underway. We're on our way to transforming an entire generation.
Trialing new treatments for irregular heartbeats
Where Dr. Marc Deyell is leading the first-in-BC trials of a revolutionary new device to treat patients with atrial fibrillation. This frightening heart condition affects more than 200,000 Canadians and can increase your risk of stroke by 500%.
Improving treatments for people living with lung disease
It's where Dr. Don Sin, who is ranked the top medical expert in COPD across North America and second in the world, work in a lab discovering treatments for patients so they can live longer and better lives.
Building on this impressive history, Innovarium provides a model for creative and supported collaboration focused on the research, development, testing and implementation of novel ideas, new models of care, and new tools, all with the goal of sustainably improving health care. We break the traditional barriers to health care innovation through public and private partnerships, wide-ranging interdisciplinary collaboration, and creative compassion that is both mission and outcome driven.