PUMPING UP CARDIAC CARE
Wellness program in high demand
In the face of increasing demand for its services, the Windsor-Essex Cardiac Wellness Centre has plans to open a second satellite campus this year.
The centre, which falls under the service umbrella of Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare, already operates a satellite program in Leamington and does its main programming at a state-of-the art facility at Windsor’s Tayfour Campus.
“We have a business case in to expand,” said Bill Marra, the hospital’s vice-president of external affairs. “We hope to have a new location sometime this year.”
An exact location hasn’t been confirmed, but several years ago, program officials expressed a desire for a second site in the county.
The wellness centre opened in 2001 with funding from the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care.
While funded for 500 patients annually, the program is on pace to receive 1,300 patient referrals for the fiscal year that ends March 31.
And demand for local followup care could rise after the recent announcement that a London hospital plans to shut down its cardiac fitness program.
“We’re close to a thousand referrals now and we’re still three months away from our year end,” Windsor-Essex program co-ordinator Carly Bell said.
Bell said at any given time there are between 250-300 people participating in the cardiac rehabilitation program.
She noted they’re on pace to see 700 patients over the next 12 months.
Community fundraisers, such as the Bob Probert Memorial Ride and the Heart Breaker Challenge, help offset financial shortfalls for programming and services.
Marra said the Wellness Centre’s budget for 2017-18 is just over $622,000 and ministry funding has not increased since HDGH took over the centre in 2013.
“My staff is stretched super thin,” Bell said. “We only have one nurse practitioner doing our orientations.”
After attending an orientation session, patients must also see one of the Wellness Centre’s doctors for a stress test.
Patients then attend sessions twice a week for six months.
Wayne Urquhart will wrap up his six-month stint in a few weeks.
“It’s a wonderful program,” said the 69-year-old who suffered a heart attack in March of last year. “When you have a massive heart attack there’s a lot of fear involved. They get you through the fear. The people there are so kind and compassionate, they did a good job of helping me learn how to eat properly and exercise every day.”
The program is offered free of charge but after timing out, patients can enrol in a lifelong maintenance program for a fee. Urquhart has already signed up for that program.
Followup care for cardiac patients has become a hot topic in London, where the London Health Sciences Centre said patient referrals to its Cardiac Fitness Institute will end in March of this year.
The program there is not funded by the ministry. The hospital covers $150,000 of the annual costs with another $150,000 raised through donations.
There is a sixth-month ministryfunded program at London’s St. Joseph’s Hospital.
“I can’t imagine,” Bell said about a community losing cardiac care programs. “There are some small programs for cardiac rehabilitation in this area, but there’s no way any of these programs could keep up with demand.”
The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada estimates there are 1.6 million Canadians living with heart disease or stroke.
A spokesman for the foundation said “research has shown that participation in rehabilitation reduces death by 26 per cent. Participation also reduces the need for rehospitalization and repeat heart procedures, which saves healthcare dollars when compared to care that lacks a rehabilitation component,” Jane-Diane Fraser wrote in an email response.
The local Windsor-Essex County Health Unit notes this area has a much higher death rate from cardiovascular disease than the province as a whole.
“For the many Windsor-Essex County residents who experience heart disease, the program offered by the Windsor-Essex Cardiac Centre is an essential source of support for these individuals and their families,” said health unit spokesman Mike Janisse.