THUNDER BAY - Cardiovascular patients in Thunder Bay will no longer need to include travel arrangements as part of their recovery plan following surgery, as the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre moves forward in establishing a cardiovascular surgery program here in the city.
In an announcement on Wednesday at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, Health Minister Eric Hoskins said the province is investing in the tools to allow the hospital to house a cardiovascular surgery program.
“This is something that the community of Thunder Bay and entire Northwest can celebrate today,” Hoskins said. “The hospital has been given the tools and the resources to get this done.”
The cardiac surgery program is expected to be fully operational by the spring of 2020 and will provide vascular care to approximately 600 patients and cardiac surgical services to approximately 400 patients a year. It will partner with the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre at the Toronto General Hospital and be a two-site program.
In order to house the program in Thunder Bay, the hospital will undergo construction and renovation of more than 20,000 square feet for the addition of an ambulatory care and pre-admission clinic, a vascular laboratory, 14 cardiovascular inpatient beds, five stepdown beds and a surgical suite.
The hospital currently has one cardiovascular surgeon and is looking to recruit two more, one in the coming months, and a second next summer.
The program is part of the Ontario government’s investment of $53.8 billion for health care in the 2017-18 budget. No final dollar figure was attached to the cardiovascular surgery program in Thunder Bay and Thunder Bay-Atikokan MPP Bill Mauro said the capital costs are in the tens of millions, but he added the program not only carries health benefits for the region, but economic benefits as well.
“This is creating a significant economy as well as providing enhanced, significant healthcare outcomes for our community and the district of Thunder Bay,” he said.
The process of bringing cardiovascular surgery to Thunder Bay has been a long one, but Mauro said it has been well worth the time and effort.
“For me, today, it feels like the conclusion of a 14-year process that has seen significant, successful milestones along the way,” he said. “When we open cardiac surgery in the spring of 2020 that will really be the culmination of a long effort.”
The Health Sciences Centre has seen various evolutions in cardiovascular services in the last 10 years. In 2009, the hospital began offering angioplasty services and in January of this year, vascular surgery was being offered to patients.
“I know it’s been a long process for the community and the region, but quite frankly I have been working hard to keep up with what has been happening locally,” Hoskins said. “All of those elements were there and obvious and we just needed to go through the steps to evolve from angioplasty to vascular to now full cardiac surgery.”
When Rod Morrison, a former vice president at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, needed a quadruple bypass, he was forced to travel to Hamilton, Ont., which he says was a difficult and trying experience.
“It’s an extraordinary advantage not having to worry about all the administration, the booking of flights, the booking of hotels, the booking of rental cars for both the trip down and I think more importantly for the trip back,” he said. “The last thing the patient needs is eight or nine hours from the time of discharge to the time they get back home.”
Morrison added he is pleased to see the hard work of people he has worked with at the Health Sciences Centre finally come to fruition.
“This approval to begin in a few years is a really amazing achievement,” he said.
For Hoskins, Morrison’s story of having to travel away from home to receive treatment put the announcement into perspective.
“He brought it home for all of us to understand why this is so important,” he said. “There was never any doubt in my mind that Thunder Bay deserves this high quality surgical program.”
