NEWS RELEASE
ROYAL VICTORIA REGIONAL HEALTH CENTRE
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Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre’s (RVH) Advanced Cardiac program got an important boost today when Ontario’s Minister of Health and Long-Term Care approved the capital funding for the project.
Dr. Eric Hoskins visited RVH earlier today and shared the great news, following through on Premier Kathleen Wynne’s ‘green light’ announcement last July.
The government's capital grant of almost $9.1 million will allow the health centre to begin construction this fall on the Advanced Cardiac Centre.
The centre will house catheterization labs where cardiac specialists will provide diagnostics and interventions such as angiograms and angioplasties, giving patients access to faster treatment, a shorter hospital stay and less travel time.
“We all know someone who has been impacted by heart disease,” says Janice Skot, RVH president and CEO. “Thanks to the provincial government’s support, heart patients throughout North Simcoe Muskoka will soon have access to the gold standard of lifesaving cardiac services – treatment at a cardiac centre within 90 minutes of a heart attack. Simply put, this regional advanced cardiac program will save lives.”
Minister Hoskins was welcomed to RVH by a crowd of the health centre’s “Blue Brigade” volunteers followed by a tour of the Cardiac & Renal Inpatient unit, the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit.
He made the funding announcement in the future home of cardiac care at RVH – located within the new expansion in 14,000 square feet of existing shelled space.
“With this new and important funding, we are working to ensure that patients have faster access to the right care, now and in the future,” says Dr. Eric Hoskins, Minister of Health and Long-Term Care. “Making these necessary investments in our health care system is part of our commitment to put patients first by ensuring they get the high-quality health care they need – when they need it.”
The Advanced Cardiac program is being developed in partnership with Newmarket's Southlake Regional Health Centre (SRHC) and the Cardiac Care Network, and is scheduled to open Spring 2017.
Currently, North Simcoe Muskoka is the only region in the province that is unable to provide advanced cardiac services within its boundaries.
That means most NSM residents cannot get to the nearest cardiac centre in Newmarket within 90 minutes of a heart attack to receive the “gold standard” of care.
In fact, every year more than 3,600 heart patients must travel to centres outside the region for lifesaving heart procedures.
RVH first identified the need for comprehensive cardiac services in 2007 and has since built the foundation for a strong cardiac program including: a team of nine cardiology specialists providing 24/7 cardiology coverage, a regional Urgent Cardiology Clinic to assess high-risk patients, the region’s only Cardiac Care Unit (CCU) and Cardiac Renal Inpatient unit.
Most recently RVH partnered with YMCAs in North Simcoe Muskoka to provide cardiac rehabilitation in the community once heart patients no longer need intensive hospital-based rehabilitation.
“When it comes to the heart, time is muscle. For every minute that a heart attack patient goes without treatment, heart muscle is dying. An advanced cardiac program at RVH will be a game changer for heart patients throughout North Simcoe Muskoka,” says Dr. Brad Dibble, medical director, cardiovascular and renal program, RVH. “And none of this would be possible without the support and belief of our provincial government, the North Simcoe Muskoka Local Health Integration Network, our donors and the entire RVH team. Together, we’re going to do great things for our region’s cardiac patients.”
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