Valentine\u2019s Day will mean more than flowers and cards for Cliff Lloyd and his family this year.<\/p>\n
Just months ago, Cliff suffered a major heart attack. Ahead of Valentine\u2019s Day, he returned to Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH) with his wife and two daughters to thank the cardiac team who saved his life.<\/p>\n
Last fall,\u00a0while having\u00a0routine bloodwork done, Cliff\u00a0felt sudden, sharp pain in his back, left\u00a0shoulder\u00a0and chest.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew right away something was off,\u201d said Cliff. \u201cI headed home and my wife drove me straight to the hospital. Looking back, that quick decision made all the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cliff arrived at RVH\u2019s Emergency Department and within an hour was undergoing bloodwork, an ECG and receiving medication. A Code STEMI was called \u2014 the hospital\u2019s\u00a0most\u00a0urgent response to a severe heart attack\u2014 and he was transferred to the Cardiac Catheterization Lab.<\/p>\n
Doctors determined Cliff had an occluded mid\u2013Left Anterior Descending (LAD) artery, often referred to as the \u201cwidow maker.\u201d A stent restored blood flow to his heart, a rapid intervention that\u00a0ultimately saved\u00a0his life.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the very beginning, every member of the team was professional, calm and reassuring,\u201d said Cliff. \u201cDespite the seriousness of my condition, everything was explained in a way I could understand.\u00a0They\u00a0eased my fear and helped me focus on\u00a0recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cliff spent the\u00a0remainder\u00a0of the week in RVH\u2019s Cardiac Care Unit before returning home with a cardiac education package and enrolment in the\u00a0health centre\u2019s Cardiovascular Rehabilitation Program.<\/p>\n
As the father of two, daughters\u00a0Pam Newlove and Shawna\u00a0Ropson,\u00a0who both work at RVH\u00a0and\u00a0husband to retired RVH\u00a0Medical Device Reprocessing Technician\u00a0Heidi Lloyd, Cliff said being on the receiving end of care deepened the respect he already had for the teams at the health centre.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have always known the sacrifices healthcare workers make,\u201d he said. \u201cBut being in their care gave me an even deeper appreciation for the skill, dedication and compassion that define the people who work at RVH.\u201d<\/p>\n
For his daughter, Shawna Ropson, a nurse in RVH\u2019s Cancer Centre, seeing her father receive emergency cardiac care was emotional.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cAs a nurse, you know how much planning and preparation happens behind the scenes,\u201d said\u00a0Ropson. \u201cBut when\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0your own dad, it\u00a0can be\u00a0scary. Watching the team move so quickly and confidently to coordinate his care brought me real relief.\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0proud to be part of a team that\u00a0ensures\u00a0families like mine\u00a0have\u00a0access to life-saving care when it matters most.\u201d<\/p>\n
RVH\u2019s Simcoe Muskoka Regional Heart Program provides advanced cardiac care close to home for patients from across the region and beyond. In the past year alone, the program performed 1,674 cardiac catheterizations and treated 280 STEMI cases. More than 370 pacemakers were implanted, 449 patients\u00a0participated\u00a0in the cardiac rehabilitation program and approximately 50,000 ECGs were completed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese numbers represent more than statistics \u2014 they represent lives changed and critical moments where minutes matter,\u201d said Dana Naylor, Vice-President, Clinical, and Regional Vice-President, Cancer Services, Ontario Health (Cancer Care Ontario), at RVH. \u201cStories like Cliff\u2019s remind us why rapid access to expert cardiac care close to home is so important. Our cardiac teams bring skill, coordination and compassion to every patient, every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Heart disease\u00a0remains\u00a0the second leading cause of death in Canada. Early recognition of symptoms and immediate medical attention are critical in improving outcomes.<\/p>\n
During February\u2019s Heart Month, the Simcoe Muskoka Regional Heart Program encourages community members to lower their risk of heart disease by staying smoke free, being physically active, eating a balanced diet, limiting alcohol and working with their healthcare team to monitor and manage conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol.<\/p>\n
For Cliff, returning to RVH was a welcome opportunity to thank the team who helped him get back to what matters most \u2014 being a husband and father.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe care I received was exceptional, and I will never forget it,\u201d said Cliff. \u201cThe\u00a0skill, speed and teamwork gave me\u00a0confidence\u00a0that I was in the\u00a0very best\u00a0hands. My family gave me strength,\u00a0and\u00a0RVH gave me a second chance.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Valentine\u2019s Day will mean more than flowers and cards for Cliff Lloyd and his family this year. Just…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475954,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[49,48,84,44,193186,61792],"class_list":["post-475953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-news","tag-royal-victoria-regional-health-centre","tag-rvh"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}