“What makes PROP unique is what also makes it so effective–it’s a program designed for and by the people who use it,” says Simon Cox, PROP’s Executive Director.
The “new” PROP started in 2001 and is dedicated to enabling people who need assisted ventilation to meet their respiratory needs while living in the community. The program provides a comprehensive range of equipment and supplies, respiratory therapy, education and peer group support. PROP clients can call a respiratory therapist 24 hours a day.
“The interaction of all the program’s elements also serves to build a base of knowledge and experience that enables PROP to continually progress in its ability to individualize services. It’s all here. They don’t have to run around to different organizations to get what they need.”
Please click here for more information on these services.
Please click here to see the PROP application forms and information on how to become a BCITS member.
All PROP clients living in the community in BC who meet established medical criteria and require assisted ventilation qualify for PROP services. Please contact us for more information about medical requirements or download our Medical Indications for Home Ventilation.
We're especially proud of our Peer Support Group. They are a diverse group of people who know what you are going through, having gone through it themselves. People who are livingt with tracheostomies and/or ventilators have learned that it is possible to have a good-quality life, althought a somewhat different life than before. Please click here to learn more about our Peers.
Please follow some of the links at the left and top of this page to learn more about us.
PROP is a result of the need for a secure, reliable, client-centred service for people with disabilities who were living in the community and managing their own needs for assisted ventilation.
This group had been growing throughout the 1980s and 90s as people were discharged or voluntarily signed themselves out of care facilities to live in the community. The only resource available to them was the Pearson Hospital respiratory program which was run within a hospital environment.
But instead of accepting a diminishment of their independence and quality of life, the users of the Pearson program came together determined to create a program that met their needs and that they could rely on. As far as they were concerned, this meant that consumers would have to control the resources for their health.
After much hard work, PROP was born. Because of its client-centred mode of operation and the comprehensiveness of its services, PROP dovetails with health providers in the community and in hospitals and care facilities. PROP’s role in the discharge process reassures both client and hospital about the move into the community with a full slate of services to help clients with their ventilator needs and with access to the information that they need to make decisions about their own health care.
PROP is a program of the BC Association for Individualized Technology and Supports for People with Disabilities (BCITS). BCITS acknowledges the financial assistance of the Province of British Columbia. PROP is funded by the Ministry of Health through Vancouver Coastal Health. We are very grateful for their generous financial support.
