'From Our Heart to Yours' in support of “Save a Heart” Campaign

December 4, 2006

The Foundation kicks off this year’s Holiday Appeal with their Wish List totaling $932,000 in specialized cardiac equipment. Arlene Thomson, Manager Cardiac Catheterization Lab stated:

• heart disease is one of the leading causes of premature death in Northwestern Ontario,
• cardiac disease accounts for 1 out of every 2 deaths in our area annually,
• on average, over 600 people in our region die from cardiac disease.”

She also stressed, “As you can see from these statistics, cardiac disease is a very serious issue for our communities across Northwestern Ontario. The Cardiology team at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre must have access to life-saving cardiac equipment to meet the needs of our patients.”

Funds raised from the Holiday Appeal will help purchase highly specialized cardiac equipment and technology needed to assist our cardiology team in treating the growing number of cardiac patients in our community and region.

Our Centre is on the right track to providing world class Cardiac Services like Angioplasty and Research. We must have the right equipment and technology to do the job. We need the community and region’s help to meet the needs of our patients.

Our Cardiac Wish List - $932,000

The cardiac equipment on our Wish List will assist in diagnosing and treatment of our patients and assist our cardiology team in saving lives. Although all these pieces are of great importance, we have highlighted a few of them.

The Muse Interface will be the hub of our Cardiology Department, directing and managing the flow of cardiac patient information to one central file, providing streamlined and fast delivery of data to the patient’s medical file for permanent retention and accessibility for future physician consultations. This system will greatly assist us in providing better patient care and will allow us to freely exchange critical information electronically with other healthcare providers anywhere in the world.

Physician Access Stations will allow us to have immediate access to a patient’s medical history and results of current diagnostic testing information. In most cases, we will no longer have to wait for paper files. Time is a critical factor when dealing with major cardiac conditions. Having the patient’s information right at the bedside will save vital time allowing us to administer the appropriate treatment faster.

A Holter Monitor, worn by the patient, takes a continuous tape recording of a patient's EKG for 24 hours. Since it can be worn during the patient's regular daily activities, it helps the physician correlate symptoms of dizziness, palpitations or black outs. Holter monitoring is much more likely to detect an abnormal heart rhythm when compared to the EKG which lasts less than a minute. It can also help evaluate the electrical activity of a patient's heart during episodes of chest pain.

Anyone who makes a donation to the “Save a Heart” Campaign, will have a personalized star added to our Holiday Tree located in the Main Lobby of the Health Sciences Centre. Please call 807-684-7107 or visit www.tbrhsf.net to make your secure online donation today.

Georgie Hari, TBRHSF President & CEO	Petra Kapush, TBRHSF Board Chair
Ron Saddington, TBRHSC President & CEO	Arlene Thomson, Manager Cardiac Cath Lab
Ray & Barbara Evans with 1st Donation Star

Click here for further information about 2006 Holiday Appeal

Download the Holiday Appeal Brochure - Adobe PDF (6.24 MB)

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