Friday, February 06, 2015
Pembroke Regional Hospital Now Accepting Referrals For New Regional Heart Function Clinic
PEMBROKE – A new regional outpatient program administered by the Pembroke Regional Hospital is now available for Renfrew County residents who have been identified with vascular health risk factors and may be at risk for heart failure.
Launched through a phased-in approach which began last summer, the Renfrew County Heart Function Clinic is now fully operational and accepting referrals through all emergency departments, hospitals, primary care providers or by the patients themselves by calling 1-855-293-7838.
The Heart Function Clinic is part of the Pembroke Regional Hospital’s Vascular Health Program which includes pre- diabetes and diabetes, stroke prevention, cardiac rehab and heart function services.
“Similar to the Stroke Prevention and Diabetes Education Clinics, the Heart Function Clinic was developed to provide assessment, specialty consultation through a cardiologist, teaching and follow up for patients who often present in the hospital emergency departments with symptoms such as shortness of breath chest pain or other vascular health symptoms,” said Karen Roosen, Vascular Health Coordinator at PRH.
“As with diabetes and stroke prevention, The Heart Function Clinic has a strong focus on self management and prevention thus teaching individuals how to treat the symptoms and change their lifestyle in order to prevent further complications or negative health outcomes,” Mrs. Roosen said. To further augment a healthy lifestyle, participants also have access to recommended programs such as cardiac rehab or Heartwise exercise which were developed in partnership with the Ottawa Heart Institute.
“We absolutely know that exercise is beneficial for those who have been diagnosed with Heart Failure,” said Jennifer Harris, Regional Manager for Prevention and Rehabilitation Outreach at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. “Cardiac Rehab Programs are designed to provide individual exercise prescription as well as targeted self management tools for these patients, and are an ideal link to community based Heart Wise Exercise programs.”
Dr. Ron Vexler, the cardiologist supporting the PRH Heart Function Clinic said that, "over the last five to 10 years, there have been some dramatic improvements in the treatment of patients whose hearts are weakened or failing. Foremost among these has been the emphasis on a coordinated approach utilizing specialized nursing care and close outpatient monitoring of such things as diet, activity, weight, and blood pressure. Heart Function Clinics are now utilized in many centres and have produced very gratifying results in terms of patient well-being and prognosis."
“We are very excited about the opportunity to establish a vascular health program which combines and simplifies access to education and prevention,” Mrs. Roosen said.
The expected patient benefits from this program include coordinated and timely access to services, effective diagnostics, availability of specialty consultation in person or via telemedicine, individualized treatment and followup, emphasis on self management, exercise and healthy lifestyle, along with improved communication between patients and their healthcare providers during care transitions from hospital to the community.
For more information, please contact:
Carolyn Levesque, Public Affairs and Communications Coordinator
Pembroke Regional Hospital
(613) 732-3675, ext. 6165 / carolyn.levesque@pemreghos.org
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