THUNDER BAY - The human body is a complex system with the brain and the heart running the show. If just one of them breaks down, so does the rest of the body, but a new summit is hoping to bring leading experts in the fields of cardiovascular and stroke care together to find better ways to keep everything running smoothly.
The Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre is hosting the inaugural Cardiovascular and Stroke Summit in Thunder Bay. This is the first time a local summit has brought the two fields together.
“We’re extremely excited to be able to showcase the excellent cardiovascular and stroke care that Thunder Bay Regional provides, but also how we partner with others in the community,” said Meaghan Sharp, director of cardiovascular and stroke and medicine program at TBRHSC.
Sharp said it was important to bring the two fields together because working together is an integral part of providing care, which relies on mutual understanding and research.
“It’s all part of the vascular process of the body,” she said. “To bring the both together it’s been wonderful in the sense that stroke and cardiac care are very similar in how we approach it. When calling 911, it’s the same type of medical emergency except you’re dealing with the heart or brain.”
More than 200 people are expected to attend the two-day summit, which began on Thursday, and will include keynote speakers and presentations from experts from across Canada in cardiovascular and stroke care.
Local presenters include Dr. Ayman Hassan, medical lead for stroke and neurology service in Thunder Bay, who said there are many advances in the stroke field that will be the focus of the summit.
“There is a lot of interaction between the two of us,” he said of the two fields. “One of the most common causes of stroke is cardiac problems, and this includes irregular heartbeat, and now there is three new studies about closure of a shunt between two sides of the heart that can increase the risk of stroke as well. So we definitely have to cooperate with our cardiology partners.”
Additional advances in treating stroke will come from other parts of the country, Sharp said, with very promising research coming out of Alberta.
“There is some really good work in rural Alberta,” she said. “People are able to receive what we call a clot busting drug in a timely manner. Our benchmark is 30 minutes, and hospitals in rural Alberta are doing this in less than 30 minutes, they are doing it in 20 minutes. So we are going to be able to adapt what they are doing in rural Alberta, a smaller sized hospital than Thunder Bay Regional and how we can apply that here.”
But learning what others are doing is just part of the partnerships reflected during this summit. Sharp said it also provides an opportunity to share the advancements in research being conducted in Northern Ontario.
“We want people to look at the north and Thunder Bay and the good things we are doing,” she said. “I don’t think we brag enough.”
“How progressive we are,” Sharp continued. “We are a unique community. We do well with small things. When we talk about advancements in cardiac, we are looking at having cardiac surgery here in 2021. That is something a small community hospital is able to do in the future.”
