GLORIA YUEN

About Me

I am proud to be climbing Mount Kilimanjaro with Summits of Hope alongside my dear friends Clarissa Tsang and Louise Underwood. Over the past seven years, we have been fortunate to embark on many adventures together ranging from the wet BC rainforest to the chilly Himalayas. This year, we are travelling to Tanzania to raise money for BC Children's Hospital. As a nurse, I have worked in some remote nursing stations scattered across northern BC. I will always remember the first time I had to call for the Air Ambulance service to come for a young girl who had suffered a serious head injury from a bike accident. In these isolated communities, medical emergencies are especially difficult to manage but thankfully there are systems in place to allow us to transport seriously ill children to the nearest hospital where they can be best treated (weather willing, of course!). On occasion, the illness or injury requires such specialized care that a decision is made to transport the child directly to BC Children's Hospital. Did you know they see on average an astounding 38,000 children in their Emergency Room every year? Through my work at REACH Community Health Centre, I have also learned about the diversity of programs available at BC Children's Hospital. One example is the RICHER Initiative which does incredible work in delivering outreach primary health care and specialist services to vulnerable children, youth and families in Vancouver's inner city neighbourhoods. The RICHER nurse practitioners and pediatric specialists work together to reduce barriers to accessing health services for children with complex social and medical needs through community and school clinics. Please donate and help us climb mountains for those who cannot.