Our Stories

Read the latest stories about what's going on at St. Joseph's Health Care London.

Tall dream comes true

With a list of burning questions in hand, Patricia Prance answered an incoming video call. On the other end of the line – a giraffe and his zookeeper. Prance has virtually visited not one but two giraffes thanks to St. Joseph's Health Care London's Palliative Care Unit at Parkwood Institute. Her interest in giraffes first sparked when she visited African Lion Safari as a kid. “I just fell in love with the way they ran and their tall necks. And I'm tall and lanky and run kind of like a giraffe,” she laughs. Prance always dreamed of meeting a giraffe and being able to pet it, but travel...
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Paul and Kim Spriet sitting together on a couch

Running with purpose

Kim Spriet was diagnosed with Stargardt disease, an inherited form of macular degeneration, as a young adult. But it wasn’t until her late thirties that the progressive vision loss started to impact her daily life. “I started questioning, will I be able to travel? Will I see my kids get married...
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United in Faith - Meet Nawaz Tahir, St. Joseph’s New Board Chair

A key facet of Nawaz Tahir’s Muslim faith is giving back to the community, making his role as the new Chair of St. Joseph’s Health Care London’s Board of Directors a natural fit with his beliefs. “What better way to give back then to volunteer my time and expertise at an organization like St. Joseph...
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Ryan Finch standing in his garage with vintage cars

$5 million gift to fuel mental health transformation

A generous $5 million personal donation from Ryan Finch will fuel new research with a goal of transforming the mental health care system locally. The donation will support an innovative new term research Chair in Mental Health System Transformation – that will work to develop collaborative...
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older couple walking through the woods

Life-long partnership lives on through research

Marcel and Louise Brunette were partners for life. They are remembered as a quiet, hard-working, down-to-earth couple, who often exhibited their love, respect and admiration for each other through the smallest of touches and the widest smiles. St. Joseph’s Health Care London played an important role...
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Fanshwae students Chieh-Lin Huang and Pablo Jimenez-Lopez

Upgrading with style

Hospital gift shops are not usually considered hip places to hang out, but a group of students from Fanshawe College’s Fashion Marketing and Management Program (FMMP) is changing that perception with some trendy transformations at St. Joseph’s Health Care London (St. Joseph’s). While the...
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Engineering a better tomorrow

From the classroom to the real-world, Western University engineering students recently teamed up with staff from St. Joseph’s Parkwood Institute to design medical devices that help solve present-day patient care issues. The first-year engineering students are part of an innovative course offered at...
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Dr. Adam Dukelow

A lifelong passion to serve and a focus on family

When asked why he became a physician, Dr. Adam Dukelow’s face lights up. His answer is brief, but filled with meaning, “to serve people.” Read below to learn more about St. Joseph’s new Vice President Medical and Academic Affairs and his plans for the role. When did you first know you wanted to be a...
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Kersten and her care team

From fear to freedom

“The first emotion I remember feeling was fear. I was 5 or 6 years old and I had surgery to put tubes in my ears. That was my first conscious memory and fear ended up being at the centre of most of my life,” recalls 38-year-old Kersten as she sits in her living room surrounded by her baseball cap...
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