University of Ottawa Heart Institute marks 45 years
Posted May 11, 2021 03:27:00 PM.
The homegrown healthcare success story that is the University of Ottawa Heart Institute is marking 45 years since its opening by looking back on its accomplishments and celebrating the people who helped get it to the place it is today.
The Heart Institute first opened its doors on May 11, 1976, and has spent the subsequent years becoming Canada's leading cardiac care centre and developing new ways of treating cardiac patients that are recognized around the world.
One of the Heart Institute's innovations has been its STEMI program, where heart attack patients first receive a stent to open up the blood vessel, which has cut the number of STEMI heart attack deaths in half.
“This type of program has been leading-edge, and has been adopted around the world,” said Dr. Rob Beanlands, the Heart Institute's chief of cardiology. “We were one of the first places to define the genetic determinants of blood vessel disease, and our surgical team has performed over 500 transplants.”
In 1984, the Heart Institute performed Ottawa's first heart transplant, and just a few years later it performed Canada's first neonatal heart transplant on an 11-day-old infant.
More innovations are on the horizon, with more than 100 clinical trials underway at any given time, developing new methods of care that may not be otherwise available.
“We're only here for and because of the community at-large, and it's through the support of the community that we've been able to achieve what we have,” said Dr. Beanlands.
The COVID-19 pandemic has made so many celebrations like this one more challenging, so there's no big anniversary party this year, but the Heart Institute is using its Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to look back on its 45 years of accomplishments. The Heart Institute also wants patients and families to share their stories about the centre, using the hashtag #UOHI45.
