Cardiac Care Campaign aims to raise $2.5 million for upgraded lab

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Regina and surrounding rural communities could soon see a higher level of cardiac care thanks to a new fundraising campaign designed to help upgrade one of the catheterization labs at Regina General Hospital (RGH).

A partnership announced Tuesday between the Hospitals of Regina Foundation (HRF), Municipal Hail Insurance and the Saskatchewan Health Authority aims to fund $2.5 million through the Cardiac Care Campaign to upgrade one of the two labs in Regina to better serve heart patients across southern Saskatchewan.

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With studies showing that 70 per cent of farmer deaths are associated with heart disease and over 70 per cent of Regina’s cardiac patients come from rural communities, Municipal Hail CEO Rodney Schoettler says the partnership is a natural fit.

“The connection between heart disease and farming is one of the reasons why Municipal Hall was so interested in partnering with the HRF,” Schoettler said during the announcement at RGH on Tuesday morning.

Municipal Hail is expected to match $1 million in donations from the Saskatchewan community to support the upgrade.

Catheterization labs diagnose and treat various heart conditions using imaging technology. New upgrades to the second lab will reduce the amount of radiation and provide cardiologists with real-time imaging of patients to assist doctors when conducting minimally invasive procedures.

In 2023, nearly 2,500 procedures were completed in labs in Regina alone, including 88 transcatheter aortic valve implantations.

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Both Health Minister Everett Hindley and Regina Mayor Sandra Masters said having up-to-date technology will help attract and retain physicians in the province.

“Further access to the most current technology will allow Saskatchewan to remain an attractive place for health-care professional to live, work and raise a family,” said Hindley during Tuesday’s announcement.

Once funding has kicked in and upgrades commence, only one lab will be open in Regina. RGH’s lead cardiologist, Dr. Andrea Lavoie, said it will be a new challenge to navigate with only one lab in operation, but they will work closely with teams in Saskatoon, where they also have two catheterization labs.

“We’ll be looking at how we can rearrange our teams to extend the days so that we start much earlier in the morning and stay much later in the evenings,” said Lavoie. “If there are extenuating circumstances, there are ways we can still care for patients.”

While procedures in the labs are triaged, Lavoie says wait times for the labs are currently within the national standard.

As the population ages and heart disease continues to be the second-leading cause of death in Canada, Lavoie said Regina has seen about a 15-per-cent increase in cases over the last few years.

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With more patients coming in, cardiologists in Regina have been developing more minimally invasive procedures for treating issues like valvular and congenital heart disease, among others.

“There’s a number of things we’re trying to do more minimally invasive and doing it in these types of places makes it safer and more convenient and easier for patients,” said Lavoie. “We’re trying to expand the best we can.”

Upgrades to the lab are expected to be completed by the end of this fall.

AnAmato@Postmedia.com

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