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Heart Murmurs Online Newsletter |
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THE CHRISTMAS PARTY The annual Christmas Party will be held on Sunday December 6, 2009 at the Malmo Hall at 11525 48 Avenue. Cocktails will be at 4:00PM and dinner will be served at 5:00 PM. The cost is $25.00 per person and the dinner will include turkey and ham etc. etc. etc. with complimentary beer and wine. Tickets are available from Jim Hammond (780-437-0543) and Donna Haugh (780 -463-0644).
MONTHLY SOCIAL BREAKFAST The next breakfast will be Wednesday November 25th at the South East Edmonton Seniors Center at 9:00 AM. The winner of the free breakfast at the October social was Barry Latham. WHAT'S MISSING HERE? Read to the end of this newsletter and find out what has not been mentioned elsewhere in this 'media source'... NOVEMBER SELF HELP MEETING The guest speaker for our meeting of November 30th is Sarah Casper from St. John Ambulance. A major portion of her presentation will focus on the correct applications of CPR and Heimlich Maneuver (choking) techniques - both critical to life saving efforts. As well, she will comment on related items like risk factors, emergency scene management, what to tell the 911 dispatch operator, stroke and other pertinent items. Sarah is Business Development Coordinator with St John Ambulance, has seven years experience in multiple roles. She holds a diploma in Management Studies from Grant MacEwan, instructs and organizes Provincial First Aid Competitions, and is constantly busy with a range of activities that include playing soccer, volunteering within St. John Ambulance, finding time to be with her husband, family, friends and her puppy dog. U OF A RESEARCHER GETS FUNDS TO STUDY EMERGENCY CARDIAC CARE Dr. Justin Ezekowits received a portion of $39 million handed out recently by the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research. The study will look at cardiac care from the ambulance through to surgery. The study is aimed at finding ways to improve patient recovery time. Alberta Heritage Foundation for medical research is awarding $39 million in funding for research in the province, including a cardiologist at the University of Alberta who will study emergency management of acute heart failure. The research will focus on how heart failure is managed from the ambulance to the emergency room and into the hospital. The trial will include about 1,000 patients from around Edmonton who will be enrolled in the emergency room. It will look at their ambulance care and emergency room care and hospital care in order to understand what are the things that drive the success of treatment. The goal is to find and develop the most effective responses to heart failure. (source: Edmonton Journal July 2009) U OF A WINS TWO NATIONAL AWARDS FOR EMERGENCY DOCTORS The University of Alberta has captured two of the three national awards given out annually by an organization representing emergency doctors in Canada. Dr. Amanda Hanson, a staff physician at Royal Alexandra Hospital, was named emergency medicine teacher of the year while Jatina Lai was named resident of the year by the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians. HansonÕs award was, in part, a recognition of her work developing curriculum on the use of ultrasound technology in the emergency ward. Such equipment can be particularly helpful in cases of trauma or cardiac arrest, allowing doctors to make a quick diagnosis when seconds matter. For example, when a patient is rushed to hospital with unknown injuries and low blood pressure, the ultrasound can help determine whether there is a ruptured artery or fluid buildup around the heart. The patient can then be moved into surgery in more timely manner, if required. (source http://www.edmontonjournal.com/opinion/index.html) HEARTS AND FLOWERS If you are aware of any member who has taken ill, has been confined to their home, or has been hospitalized, please e-mail this information info@edmontoncase.org or call at 780 434-1349, Hari Saraswat at 780 440-9336 or Glen Gregory at 780 434-3336. CPR - NOT THE RAILROAD... An article in Maclean's September 9, 2009 magazine that was discussing emergency care at the time of a cardiac arrest may have raised a few eyebrows among CASE members. In summary the article stated that Vancouver or Seattle were the places to be if you experience an 'out of hospital cardiac arrest'. Citing studies by the American Medical Association and the Canadian Heart and Stroke foundation the article states that: "When someone in Toronto has a cardiac arrest outside the hospital and receives emergency medical services treatment, the chance he will live is 5.5 per cent, according to a report published by the American Medical Association. But if the same person lives in Vancouver, his likelihood of living is nearly twice as high: 9.7 per cent. And heÕd be better off yet if he lived in the cardiac champion of cities: Seattle, which reigns over North America at 16.3 per cent. These regional variations expose a host of deficiencies in CanadaÕs approach to cardiac arrest, the nationÕs leading cause of death. What is surprising is, many of the failures come in to play not in the ambulance or the ER—but on the street, before paramedics even arrive." There is wide agreement on one area of 'Out of Hospital' early intervention: Basic CPR—involving cycles of chest compressions and breaths—can boost survival rates by 400 per cent. Canadians, for some reason, do not get down on their hands and knees and do CPR. The chance that a bystander in Canada knows and will perform CPR is around 15 per cent, according to an Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) study. We have one of the worst responder rates in the Western world. Those figures are even worse when the cardiac arrest happens at home as 80 per cent do—and family members are too paralyzed by fear to act. A crucial determinant (of survivability) is know-how. Many of us wouldnÕt have the first idea of how to resuscitate someone. Where survivability rates are higher there is a culture that everyone should know CPR and that training should be widely available and taken by the public. Seattle is cited as an example of where this has been achieved. SeattleÕs CPR-friendly culture did not spontaneously take root. It is largely the fruit of an aggressive municipal scheme. Since 1971, Seattle firefighters have trained over 771,000 locals in CPR. The training takes just three hours. There are no Canadian programs on that scale. Chest compressions are only one element of CPR. Maclean's states that Canada also falls short when it comes to teaching people how to use automatic external defibrillators (AEDs). In Seattle, bystanders are eight times more likely to use AED's than in Toronto. That number is compelling, because a victimÕs chance of pulling through falls seven to 10 per cent for every minute delay in defibrillation. An expert cited by Maclean's states: "The thing that drives me to distraction is that we have lots of AEDs, but nobody knows where we have them.Ó It should be noted that in Edmonton the AED's are registered with EMS and people calling 911 can be told where the nearest device is. However, training is still desirable to ensure effective use of the automatic devices. The article stresses that early cardiac intervention have not been a high priority in the health care system. Dr. Stiell, of the University of Ottawa, lead researcher on an inter-university research project named the Resuscitation Outcome Consortium (ROC) states: "Pre-hospital cardiac care is like an orphan, it slips through the bureaucratic cracks. Municipalities, for instance, control Þrefighter units, but provinces set ambulance guidelines. And while the feds direct funding, independent groups like the Heart and Stroke Foundation generate CPR guidelines." Another researcher notes that " the huge scale of cardiac arrest research trials which often involve hundreds of patients makes grant boards nervous, and more inclined to fund Òbasic science projects.Ó Research on Òthe effect of such and such a protein on muscle contractivityÓ sells better than a social science project trying to improve CPR rates". " Recently, though, there has been a resurgence of interest in CPR. ÒFor a long time,Ó says Stiell, ÒweÕve [focused on] drugs and gadgets. But CPR is back.Ó This interest is largely fuelled by the Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium (ROC), a coalition of Canadian and U.S. research teams conducting the first large-scale clinical trials in the cardiac arrest field. Part of the issue, says Stiell, is that modern CPR was designed in the 1960s. Since then, weÕve basically accepted that formula. http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/09/10/the-heart-of-the-matter THE ANSWER... You may have noticed that none of the items in this newsletter has mentioned flu, H1N1, or Swine flu. There has been media coverage, ad nauseum, of the flu, most of it appearing to lack balance and context. Apparently, those issuing statements and writing the news have been seeking to promote fear and emotion rather than rational thought and decisions. Through it all, the only really good advice appears to be to get the H1N1 vaccine. It also is highly advisable obtain the seasonal flu vaccination when it is made available again, once the H1N1 vaccinations are 'completed'. After all, seasonal flu and associated illnesses still have a significantly higher mortality rate than the H1N1 flu strain...
HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A GREAT NEW YEAR! |
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