New Cath Lab a Great Example of Doing More Faster
Published Tuesday, June 4, 2024
When it comes to Doing More, the best examples are our Hospital's largest purchases. Case in point: our Cath Lab, a highly advanced piece of medical equipment for cardiac procedures.
This newest model is far more advanced than the first Cath Lab donors to the Foundation helped purchase in 2007. Features include more mobility so that interventional cardiologists and other health professionals can see the heart and coronary system from many more different angles. Higher definition imaging means that the team can see in much greater detail using a large array of high-def monitors.
“We can image patients much better than we could previously,” said Martin Sabourin, Cath Lab Manager. “Our interventional cardiologists can see the area they're working on much more clearly.”
Sabourin said that each Cath Lab sees six to eight scheduled patient procedures per day. These include angiograms, angioplasties, and pacemaker insertions. The Cath Lab is available 24/7 for emergency procedures as well.
The new Cath Lab also allows the team at our Hospital to perform more complex procedures such as rotational athrectomy. Arteries can sometimes be blocked by hardened plaque and calcium deposits, which is more difficult to remove. Using the Cath Lab equipment, interventional cardiologists access the spot just as they do for angioplasty. An extremely thin rotating shaver carefully and precisely breaks up hardened deposits to increase blood flow.
“It's a newer procedure,” Sabourin said. “This upgraded Cath Lab will allow us to see (those blocked areas) much better. Otherwise, we'd have to send patients to, for example, our partner the University Health Network (UHN) in Toronto.”
Crucially, we're also Doing More Faster thanks to our generous donors and supporters. Our new Cath Lab cost approximately $2.3 million. Usually, the Health Sciences Foundation would mount a huge campaign to raise the Hospital's portion of those funds. Thanks to your support of the Foundation including donations, event participation, and Thunder Bay 50/50 purchases, we were able to fund that equipment now rather than later.
The Cath Lab is an amazing example of how your support and dedication bring better, closer-to-home healthcare for everyone in Northwestern Ontario. Your donations and support helps improve healthcare and reduce travel for thousands of patients in our region every year.