By Chad Klassen

Dr. Jill Calder honoured for work with ALS patients in Kamloops region

Apr 4, 2019 | 4:30 PM

KAMLOOPS — It’s a lab day for Dr. Jill Calder working out of the Clinical Services Building at RIH, using a machine that tests a patient’s nerve and muscle function, a piece of equipment that can determine whether they have ALS. 

“In the earliest of phases, you’re kind of suscipious for it, but you can’t really be 100 per cent sure early on,” noted Dr. Calder. “Then as the disease progresses, the electromyography changes (recording of the electrical activity of muscle tissue) become more clear.”

Dr. Calder has been diagnosing and working with ALS patients in the Kamloops area since 1991, the same year she became the Director of Rehabilitation Services at Royal Inland Hospital. She still remembers her first ALS patient from nearly 30 years ago. 

“He taught me the ‘Now what?’ question, so I always get that off my patients. Now what?” she said. “We think it through as to what makes most sense for them. What were they planning, how to make it happen anyway, and how to live despite the disease. Live with it, live long, and live well.”

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She oversees close to 20 patients and has seen about 80 over the course of her medical career. For all of her passion and work with the ALS Society of BC, the organization honoured Dr. Calder with the Exceptional Advocacy Award on Tuesday night in Richmond. 

“I almost feel guilty for taking an award for my job,” he said. “It’s what I do, but I’ve had great respect for the patients with ALS. It’s such a tough journey, getting the diagnosis and then living to the max as best you can.”

One of Dr. Calder’s patients was Randy Lynds, who was diagnosed with the disease in July 2012 before passing away in December 2013. His family says Dr. Calder was a blessing to have along the way. 

“From the get-go, we had her personal number. Any questions — even just helping my dad with his plan,” said Randy’s son Terry Lynds. “She respected all that and was a wealth of information and a wealth of support.”

Terry says Dr. Calder has remained in touch with the family five years after Randy’s passing. He believes Kamloops is incredibly lucky to have someone like her in the community. 

“The support system in this area is next to none. I think it kind of starts with Jill and the team that she has around her,” said Lynds. “It’s not an easy disease to deal with regardless. Just having that [support]. You don’t feel like a number. You feel like everyone wants to be there to support you.”

Dr. Calder is already thinking of a succession plan for the time she retires. She dreams of a clinic at RIH for patients living with ALS, Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinson’s. 

“We bring people into the world nicely. We should have them exit nicely.”