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The Give 2012 - Press Release
February 27, 2012
Saint John Regional Hospital Foundation will fundraise for
the latest in cardiac care equipment
THE GIVE 2012 will raise $750,000 for the New Brunswick Heart Centre
The Saint John Regional Hospital Foundation today announced its 2012 annual campaign, The Give will fund enhanced technology for New Brunswick’s provincial Heart Centre. This equipment will continue to ensure the Heart Centre’s capacity to deliver excellence in cardiac care. Through the generosity of its donors, corporate partners, hospital staff and community fundraisers, the Foundation aims to raise $750,000.
Dr. Marc Pelletier is a New Brunswicker who returned home in 2007 after four years at Stanford University as Medical Director of Cardiac Surgery at El Camino Hospital and as a heart and lung transplant surgeon at Stanford Medical Center in California. He has the expertise and skills to further this field of medicine here.
“The last ten years have shown a real shift in what we are able to do for patients struggling with poor cardiovascular health,” says Dr. Pelletier, Cardiovascular Surgeon at the Saint John Regional Hospital and Clinical Department Head, Cardiac Surgery for the New Brunswick Heart Centre. “The cases we see are increasingly complex. That is why we require the latest, most sophisticated equipment available.”
The 2012 campaign will invest in eleven pieces of equipment; two complete heart-lung machines, a cerebral oxygen saturation monitor, three microcardioplegia pumps and five microcoagulation machines. This technology will give doctors a more accurate measure of a patient’s anti-coagulation, oxygenation and hemodilution levels, minimizing complications during surgeries and cardiac catheterizations. Not only will this keep our Centre in the forefront of its field, it will also be instrumental for data management and accuracy in future research.
“This equipment needs to be here and at-the-ready for our specialists when New Brunswickers need cardiac care,” says Bruce Sweeney, Co-Chair of the 2012 annual campaign. “This is a powerful and hopeful message for all in our province. As a patient of the Heart Centre myself, I am passionate about this campaign and its success.”
Today, our New Brunswick Heart Centre performs over 750 open-heart surgeries, and completes 13,000 patient visits annually. With over 80 percent of the Centre’s referrals from outside of the Greater Saint John area, the Centre sees patients from all over the province and Prince Edward Island. With one out of every three New Brunswickers facing some type of cardiovascular illness over the course of their lifetime, the New Brunswick Heart Centre, located at the Saint John Regional Hospital, is a critical piece of our healthcare system.
“Together, I know we can do this,” says Dr. Camille Haddad, Northern New Brunswick Co-Chair for the 2012 Campaign. He lives and practices as a GP in Miramichi, New Brunswick with his wife and family. Dr. Haddad underwent an open-heart surgery after a heart attack in July of 2009. “My illness took me to the New Brunswick Heart Centre,” Haddad adds, “and it was the expertise of the surgeons and staff that sent me home and back into my life! This year, I am taking The Give to Heart!”
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Contact Information:
Victoria Clarke
Director, Saint John Regional Hospital Foundation
Direct: (506) 648-6410
Main: (506) 648-6400
Victoria.Clarke@HorizonNB.ca
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