Providing Cardiac Care Through the Pandemic War: one hill at a time, one patient at a time
As we continue to provide care (and manage care) for Manitobans with cardiac disease through this high-water mark of the third wave of the pandemic we often revert to wartime analogies to describe the situation and to describe how we have adapted our patient care models to continue to provide care. Notably the incident command and control structure that we operate under at hospital, WRHA and Shared Health levels through the course of the pandemic comes from the military. However, for those of us in the trenches (fyi, a military term from World War I), we are still left to sort out how best we can continue to provide the best care, patient-by-patient—which sometimes has taken extraordinary efforts.
This week I would like to highlight one of those efforts. Our first patient, who was transferred out of province to undergo cardiac surgery, was repatriated Saturday. The complexity of making those arrangements was immense, involving hours of work and hundreds of emails made by our surgeons, our Access Office staff, ERS staff, Shared Health logistical support staff and many other health care workers across the system. True, this is care for a single patient, in the face of an ever-expanding waitlists for cardiac surgery. However, I think it is very worthwhile to salute the efforts of so many of you in making possible this successful surgery for a single patient both as a “win” in this pandemic war as well as a paradigm for the work done by all of us in the Cardiac Sciences community who continue to provide care, one patient at a time, under extraordinary circumstances.
Sals Stars of the Week: Kris Gelineau (introduced by Lisa Bowen)
This week’s Sal’s Star has been a member of the CSIU staff since 2010. She has always been an active member on the unit, taking charge, mentoring and orientating new staff, preceptor to new students and in charge of the CSIU social committee ( there were some fun golf games in the past!!) as well as being engaged in projects on the unit.
Kris Gelineau has also been working in the Cardiac clinics as a casual. The extra skills and knowledge she has learnt has benefitted not only the staff on CSIU but also the patients. Most recently, I overheard a conversation she was having with a post recovery patient, and her knowledge about the pre and post procedure process was outstanding! This is information that she has also been able to share with the staff on the unit. She was able to explain the processes, develop a plan with the patient and the patient felt like she was part of her own health care and felt more at ease.
In this different time we are working in, with staff being reassigned to work in other areas, Kris has also stepped up to the plate and helped take over part of the educator role on our unit by spending a day with new staff members and orientating them to the unit. In communication with our educator, they have developed a plan to ensure the new staff are as best prepared as possible to be successful in safely caring for our cardiac patients. Please join me in a round of applause for this week’s Sal’s Star- Kris Gelineau!
Milestones: Brenda Richardson
We would like to extend best wishes to Paulette Devigne who retired after 40 years of service on June 1, 2021. Paulette was an administrative secretary within Cardiac Sciences Manitoba for the section of Cardiology. Paulette was a valuable member of the cardiology team and her commitment to her work, her cardiologists and cardiology administrative team will be greatly missed. Thank you Paulette for your dedication to Cardiac Sciences and support and guidance to those that had the pleasure of working with you. Wishing you all the best in this new adventure of retirement.
This Week’s Faculty Publications
I. Paterson, K. Ramanathan, R. Arora, D. Bewick, C. Chow, B. Clarke, S. Cowan, A. Ducharme, K. Gin, M. Graham, A. Gupta, D. S Jassal, M. Kazmi, A. Krahn, Y. Lamarche, A. Marelli, I. Roifman, M. Ruel, G. Singh, L. Sterns, R. Turgeon, S. Virani, K. K Wong, S. Zieroth Long COVID-19: A Primer for Cardiovascular Health Professionals On Behalf of the CCS Rapid Response TeamCan J Cardiol . 2021 Jun 3;S0828-282X(21)00287-7. doi: 10.1016/j.cjca.2021.05.011.
Ismail U, Sidhu K, Zieroth S. Hyperkalaemia in Heart FailureCard Fail Rev . 2021 May 12;7:e10. doi: 10.15420/cfr.2020.29. eCollection 2021 Mar.
H R Muller Moran, R C Arora, R A Manji Commentary: The A-B-C’s of H-I-T Semin Thorac Cardiovasc Surg . 2021 Jun 4;S1043-0679(21)00274-4. doi: 10.1053/j.semtcvs.2021.05.020. Online ahead of print.
A V Rose, K F Boreskie, J L Hay, L Thompson, R C Arora, T A Duhamel Protocol for the WARM Hearts study: examining cardiovascular disease risk in middle-aged and older women – a prospective, observational cohort study BMJ Open . 2021 May 25;11(5):e044227. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-044227.
A Hassan, M Ouzounian, F Dagenais, I El-Hamamsy, M C Moon, Z Pozeg, R S McClure, M Yamashita, M D Peterson, R MacArthur, J J Appoo, M W A Chu Development of Quality Indicators for the Management of Acute Type A Aortic Dissection
Low TT, Guron N, Ducas R, Yamamura K, Charla P, Granton J, Silversides CK Pulmonary arterial hypertension in pregnancy-a systematic review of outcomes in the modern era Pulm Circ . 2021 May 14;11(2):20458940211013671. doi: 10.1177/20458940211013671. eCollection Apr-Jun 2021.
I hope you are staying safe and healthy.
