THUNDER BAY – Cardiovascular surgery in Northwestern Ontario is one step closer to reality.
Minister of Health and Long-Term Care Eric Hoskins on Tuesday announced the province will fund on-site endovascular aneurysm surgery at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, while promising to give the hospital a $500,000 planning grant to study a plan for full cardiovascular surgical services.
He then joked he anticipates to be back in the city in the very near future to announce the capital investment in that program.
Hoskins said his government realizes Northwestern Ontarians often face unique challenges when it comes to health care.
“It’s the next logical step,” Hoskins said.
The minimally invasive surgery unveiled on Tuesday sees a stent graph inserted into the femoral artery, and then passed up through the weakened part of the aorta, one of the main vessels in the human heart.
Before its arrival in Thunder Bay, patients had to fly to southern Ontario for the surgery, a costly and troubling journey for many living in Ontario’s north.
Dave Stephens was the first person to undergo the procedure in Thunder Bay, going under the knife this past January.
After being diagnosed with an aneurysm late last year, he thought for sure he’d have to travel to Toronto to undergo a potentially life-saving procedure.
He was pleasantly surprised when he was asked if he wanted to be the first patient to have the surgery done in Thunder Bay.
“I said, all right, that’s for me,” Stephens said. “The stress level went down quite a bit when I learned I could stay here and have this operation.
“The other thing that was important to me is I was able to have my support team I had been working with for the last few months to be with me and stay with me right through the whole procedure.”
Hospital president and CEO Jean Bartkowiak said the arrival of endovascular aneurysm repair is the continuation of his goal of having full cardiovascular surgery available in Thunder Bay.
“We’re committed to meet the specialized acute-care needs of our patients throughout Northwestern Ontario and this project is reflective of that kind of view,” Bartkowiak said.
Hoskins also announced the province had included in this year’s budget a $10-million increase to the Northern Health Travel Grant program, to $14 million, mostly to pay for added accommodation for patients needing to travel elsewhere for treatment.
