Congratulations Kathy Mulder!
The Canadian Hemophilia Society, Manitoba Chapter (CHS-MC) was pleased to show our support for Kathy Mulder as a deserving nominee for the Order of Canada. Kathy Mulder has been one of the “silver linings” and an integral part of the bleeding disorders community. Kathy gave exemplary care to our community for over 40 years in her position as a pediatric physiotherapist at Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre. Kathy’s dedication to her profession and the hemophilia community continues in her retirement from clinical practice. She is passionate about volunteering, research and is a lifelong learner. She is very generous and shares with everyone who knows her. Kathy exemplifies the value of serving others. Our community has benefitted from her work advocating for improved care and services for Manitobans, Canadians and the international community managing hemophilia and other inherited bleeding disorders.
Kathy practiced her profession while educating families to become working partners in their health care. In the clinical setting she would explain how she made her assessment and teach the language needed to communicate with health care professionals. Kathy would take the time to explain what you needed to do to recover from a bleeding episode and why. CHS-MC can always count on Kathy to participate in an education day or find us a volunteer that she is mentoring, to deliver a lecture. She is a prolific author and contributor to many publications like Assessment and Treatment of Joint and Muscle Bleeds and Identifying Common Joint and Muscle Bleeds. She has contributed to multiple chapters in the CHS All About Hemophilia binder which is the hemophilia “bible” that all Manitoba families get when diagnosed. These publications are tools designed to educate patients and their caregivers to be self-reliant and good managers of their bleeding disorder.
With the advent of preventative therapies for hemophilia, Kathy was a pioneer in encouraging bleeding disorders families and their treaters, that physical activity was not only important for developmental and mental health, but also for the prevention of bleeding episodes. Kathy has published papers in the medical journal, Haemophilia, on the risk/benefit of participation in sports and fitness. She helped CHS-MC develop the guidelines for our Sports Bursary Program. In 2017 she co-authored, In the Driver’s Seat: A Workbook Designed to Guide Personalized Decision-Making about Physical Activities for the bleeding disorders community. We now have CHS-MC members with hemophilia who participate in gym and sports at school, play recreational sports and we even have some competing at higher levels in volleyball, swimming, curling and biathlon.
Kathy is very passionate about comprehensive care for people with inherited bleeding disorders. Kathy did a great service for the members of CHS-MC by volunteering to help create the CHS-MC Member Satisfaction Survey with the Manitoba Bleeding Disorders Program. She used her research experience to help CHS-MC craft a professional survey in 2018 based on Canadian and international standards of comprehensive care. The results of the survey have allowed CHS-MC leadership to have meaningful discourse with the Manitoba Bleeding Disorders Program to advocate for and improve equitable access to comprehensive care for our members. Kathy served as the co-chair of the Canadian Inherited Bleeding Standards Working Group and in 2020 the Canadian Integrated and Comprehensive Care Standards for Inherited Bleeding Disorders was endorsed by the CHS and all the professional groups involved in bleeding disorders care and treatment. Kathy’s work at the local and national level has given CHS-MC and the Manitoba Bleeding Disorders Program the standards we need to effectively advocate on behalf of our members in a time when healthcare resources are in jeopardy.
Kathy’s firm belief in equitable access to care of all people with inherited bleeding disorders has had a significant impact on segments of our community that don’t get as much attention as people with severe hemophilia. She has published and collaborated with many colleagues on the challenges faced by people with mild hemophilia. Her research project in 2006, Creating Meaningful Messages for Individuals with Mild Hemophilia through Consultation: Integrating Grounded Theory and Action Research and in 2011, Development and Evaluation of a New Self-Assessment Pathway for Young Men with Mild Hemophilia A and B led to the groundbreaking creation of a self-assessment App called HIRT? (Hemophilia Injury Recognition Tool). The interactive app allows people with mild hemophilia to monitor an injury and guide them to make better decisions on when to seek treatment. The App is now in development as an additional tool to My Canadian Bleeding Disorders Registry, the patient bleed and medication recording application. As medications have improved for people with severe hemophilia, the HIRT? App will have an even wider impact. We have a small group of patients in Manitoba who have an inhibitor to their clotting medication. Kathy has collaborated on multiple papers published in Haemophilia about physiotherapy, orthopedic interventions and surgeries for people with inhibitors. Kathy encourages families to reach out beyond the local community and to attend CHS Inhibitor Conferences so that we could have access to current education, council of the best treaters in Canada and very importantly, develop a peer group when there wasn’t one at home.
Kathy served as a CHS-MC Board member from 2011 to 2015. She held the Executive Committee position of Secretary in her final year. Her volunteer work for the Chapter Board is highly valued by the entire organization. As a member of the Member Services Committee, she helped us survey the community to modernize our direct service programs to better serve the community. Kathy chaired the CHS-MC 50th Anniversary Committee and helped us celebrate our accomplishments. We are grateful to Kathy for giving us better insight into the patient and family needs of the community from a healthcare professional perspective as we worked to serve our members better. In 2015 Kathy received the CHS-MC Special Recognition Award in appreciation and recognition of the many years of outstanding contributions to the bleeding disorders community and in 2020 was awarded CHS-MC Volunteer of the Year.
Kathy embarked on a two-year project in 2020, with Hoffman La Roche Canada, to create a virtual digital exercise platform for patients with Hemophilia based on clinical best practices and World Federation of Hemophilia guidelines. These videos bring expert recovery tools to patients in Canada living in rural and remote areas and comprehensive care facilities that have new physiotherapy team members. The forty-seven videos are being used in Canada and globally as the audio for the videos is continuously being translated for use in other languages.
We must include Kathy’s work with her colleagues through the World Federation of Hemophilia (WFH). She not only shares her knowledge with the greater bleeding disorders community, but she also brought home all that she learned. The patients most certainly benefitted from it. Kathy served on many WFH committees and in 2006 was voted by her peers to Chair the WFH Musculoskeletal Committee; the first physiotherapist to hold this position. Kathy has participated in multiple WFH Medical Twinning programs. She has practiced physiotherapy in hemophilia care on all continents, apart from Antarctica. Kathy helped CHS-MC with our Organizational Twinning with Mongolia and was member of the Manitoba team awarded the 2017 WFH Hemophilia Organizational Twins of the Year. She applied what she learned into her practice, encouraging us all to embrace the newest ideas and therapies. Kathy has been recognized for her international work in 2008 by the Canadian Physiotherapy Association, in 2011 by the CHS and in 2015 was awarded the Pietrogrande Prize to recognize a healthcare professional who has contributed significantly to furthering the mission and goals of the Musculoskeletal Committee of the WFH.
Kathy Mulder exemplifies all the best things about Canada. She is a pioneer in her field of expertise and shares her knowledge and experience with her patients and colleagues. Kathy volunteers and encourages others to volunteer. Kathy fights for what she knows is right, especially if it is for the bleeding disorders community. She is generous with her support and shares her passions with her family and friends. She has spent a lifetime collaborating with others to build a stronger community. Best of all, the children she looked after love and respect her. She understands boys and their incessant need to find novel and interesting ways to hurt themselves. This is a comfort to exasperated parents. Please consider Kathy Mulder for the Order of Canda for all her contributions to her profession and the inherited bleeding disorders community.