South Georgian Bay resident first to benefit from advanced cardiac care partnership between General and Marine Hospital and RVH
Stayner man suffered a heart attack in mid-February
The recently announced partnership between RVH and Collingwood’s General and Marine Hospital (CGMH) has started to pay dividends.
An 83-year-old Stayner man is the first in the Southern Georgian Bay region to receive advanced cardiac care under the Simcoe-Muskoka Code STEMI Protocol. It was rolled out to residents in the Collingwood and Midland areas in February
New heart attack protocol promises ‘gold standard’ of care for patients in Midland, Collingwood
Under the protocol, patients who arrive at CGMH or Southern Georgian Bay General Hospital with heart attack symptoms are transported directly to RVH for treatment. This ‘gold standard’ of care results in a patient receiving advanced cardiac care in less than 120 minutes from the onset of symptoms.
Stayner resident Douglas Callow, 83, was the first person in the region to receive this advanced care. On the morning of February 19, after clearing off snow from his garage, Callow began experiencing chest pain. He had a neighbour immediately take him to CGMH. Upon arrival, he was quickly assessed, the Code STEMI protocol was followed, and Simcoe County paramedics were dispatched.
Callow was very pleased with how fast things unfolded, “When I arrived at the Collingwood hospital I was seen right away. They told me I was having a heart attack and that I needed to go to RVH in Barrie. It was like a scene out of a television show. There were people everywhere caring for me,” he said. “Once I arrived at RVH, the cardiac team was expecting me and everything went very smoothly. I felt well cared for.”
Since November, residents of Simcoe County, including Rama First Nation, who called 911 with heart attack symptoms were transported directly to RVH for care, bypassing local Emergency departments. People with symptoms who attended their local hospital’s Emergency department on their own were stabilized and transported to Southlake Regional Health Centre in Newmarket. Now, that this phase of the new protocol is in effect heart attack patients who go to CGMH’s Emergency department or Georgian Bay General Hospital’s (GBGH) Emergency department are assessed and transported directly to RVH.
