This year, The Province newspaper is running a special multi-part, behind-the-scenes series on Vancouver’s downtown community hospital, St. Paul’s. The latest installment of the series, called Heartbeat, recently went into the hospital’s maternity ward to detail the stories of newborns, new mothers, medical miracles and the everyday compassionate care of staff who help birth new families and incredible stories there. I was privileged to witness live births, cesarean deliveries, and the care of NICU babies in reporting the series; it was a truly moving experience. In reporting a section on renal care, I had the amazing privilege of being in the operating room watching as first a donor’s kidney was removed and then implanted in the recipient. It was more than an act of surgery, it was an act of love: the donor gave a second chance to his wife, the recipient. An amazing story. Read more on the maternity series here and on the renal care series here.