Close to the heart

Gary Kennedy, 67, went to the Fort McLeod Emergency Department in the summer of 2009 because he could barely breathe. He thought he had asthma but was experiencing heart failure.

“I felt just lost and he was so sick,” Bonnie Kennedy says of her husband’s cardiac episode. “Neither of us knew anything about heart failure or why this was happening.”

Every year in Alberta, about 2,500 people have a heart attack, while 10,000 are diagnosed with heart failure, a condition that exists when the heart is unable to efficiently pump blood.

The Alberta Cardiac Access Collaborative (ACAC) is co-ordinating and improving the care these and other cardiac patients receive. Over the past two years, new clinics opened in Camrose, Wainwright, Grande Prairie, Fort McMurray and Medicine Hat, while existing clinics in Lethbridge, Red Deer, Calgary and Edmonton were enhanced.   

“We wanted to fill in any gaps in this care process to make sure no one fell through the cracks,” says Deb Gordon, senior vice-president, Major Tertiary Hospitals for Alberta Health Services.

“We looked at improving the patient journey from the time they first think they have a heart problem to when their heart problem is dealt with, to when they get reintegrated back into the care of the community.”

ACAC initiatives focus on heart failure; heart attack; cardiac device implants and electrical issues; and streamlining cardiac health services.

Kennedy attended information sessions at the heart function clinic to learn how to manage his condition. 

“If you have a question, you can phone the nurse and find out what’s going on, or they will talk to the doctor and get right back to you,” he says.

A nurse-led, physician-supported clinic is the best way to manage heart failure, says Dr. David Johnstone, clinical director at the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute in Edmonton.

Clinic physicians assess a patient’s heart and ensure proper medications are taken. But most patient care is by nurses and a team of health professionals, including dietitians, whose contribution includes advice on heart-smart grocery shopping and cooking.

Johnstone says this integrated approach “keeps people out of hospital and gives them another place to call (if) they’re starting to deteriorate before they go to an emergency department.”

All four ACAC initiatives have proven to be successful, says Gordon. 

“When you have co-ordinated integrated and standardized care, what starts to happen is you create a more efficient and more effective system,” she says.  

Kennedy agrees: “It’s certainly a valuable program I’d recommend it to anybody.”

For more info about the Alberta Cardiac Access Collaborative, visit www.cardiacaccess.ab.ca/default.aspx