THE VERY HEART OF CARDIAC CARE
University of Ottawa Heart Institute Chief executive Thierry Mesana shows off the DA Vinci robot, used for minimally invasive surgeries, during A media tour of the new critical care facility, the institute’s ‘most significant expansion in 40 years.’
After 12 years of planning and work, the University of Ottawa Heart Institute’s state-of-the art critical care facility is ready for patients, adding the latest technology, more operating room capacity, more patient space and more sunlight to what is Canada’s largest comprehensive cardiac prevention and rehabilitation program.
“This is the most significant expansion in 40 years,” said Heart Institute president and CEO Dr. Thierry Mesana, who led the media on a tour of the new facility Thursday. “We are very, very proud of this.”
The new critical care tower, located alongside the original Heart Institute, adds 145,000 square feet of space and five operating rooms, including one shelled in, but not completed, for future use. It also includes nine catheterization and electrophysiology labs, and an additional surgical critical-care unit of 27 beds, as well as state-of-theart equipment.
The tower replaces the core of the institute’s facilities. As part of the $230-million project, 60,000 square feet of existing space will be renovated to create an expanded diagnostic imaging centre, work that will continue for several years.
Patients will be transferred from the current spaces to the new building over Easter weekend and the new facility will be fully functioning by April 3.
Among the notable changes for patients in the new facility will be single rooms — the standard in new hospitals to add privacy and reduce spread of infection — that are full of light.
“The patients will be in private rooms in intensive care. They will have light, they can see outside, they can see the sun. It is going to help them a lot for their recovery,” said Mesana.
Exposure to natural light, he said, helps speed recovery of patients.
The additional space will also increase capacity of the Heart Institute, which has more than 220,000 patient visits a year. Mesana said the expansion will help the Heart Institute further reduce its wait list, which is now below 300 patients.
“Our target is to get it lower within a year or so.”
Among innovations in the new expansion is a hybrid operating room that combines surgical facilities with the resources of a cardiac catheterization lab and expanded imaging capabilities. That means doctors will be able to perform surgical and catheter-based procedures such as angioplasties at the same time, saving patients the burden of having separate procedures and two recoveries.
The new facility will also include robotic surgical tools to help surgeons perform some cardiac procedures as keyhole, rather than open-heart, surgery. Its use will begin slowly “in a select number of patients,” Mesana said.
The new expansion, located alongside the Civic hospital, stands in stark contrast to the century-old Civic that is soon expected to be replaced with a $2-billion superhospital at the eastern edge of the Central Experimental Farm. The Heart Institute will relocate to that site, but not for decades as part of the second phase of Civic construction.
“The future of cardiac care is ensured for many years with this new facility,” Mesana said.
Mesana said the two facilities will continue to be well-integrated even after the Civic moves and the Heart Institute has not relocated.
Meanwhile, the Heart Institute has built-in room for expansion in the new tower, which will likely be used long before it moves to the new site. The tower includes an extra floor not yet completed that will add beds and operating space.
The Heart Institute, founded by Dr. Wilbert Keon, opened its doors in 1976 and performed its first heart transplant in 1984. To date, 649 heart transplants have been performed there.
“The Heart Institute represents a lot for the community,” Mesana said. “This is a jewel for our healthcare system right here in Ottawa.”
An inauguration ceremony and open house will take place Friday between 3 and 8 p.m. at the new facility at 40 Ruskin St.