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By Josh Hall | @Vancan19

renowned doctor eager for its arrival

Fundraiser Oct. 18 to benefit Red Deer’s cardiac catheterization goals

Oct 11, 2024 | 5:00 PM

A team behind the Time is Life campaign, which focuses on the need for cardiac catheterization labs in Red Deer, is hoping the community will consider attending a fundraiser and awareness building event Oct. 18.

The event at Bo’s Bar and Stage will see all proceeds go to the Red Deer Regional Health Foundation.

Notably, two cardiovascular cath labs are a critical part of the $1.8 billion Red Deer Regional Hospital expansion project, which isn’t set to be complete until around 2030.

Time is Life co-director, Vanessa Higgins-Nogareda, clarifies the event’s purpose.

“Our goal, as it always has been, is to raise awareness and funds for a cardiac cath lab sooner than later — prior to expansion,” she says. “We hope that with community support, we can make it happen.”

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Dr. Gustavo Nogareda, who was appointed to clinical assistant professor at the University of Alberta in 2007, joined Red Deer Regional around the same time to help develop the Central Alberta Cardiovascular Sciences Department.

He is regarded as a pioneer in the area of angioplasty and the use of stents to unblock arteries.

Dr. Nogareda is eager for the day, whenever it may be, that a cath lab opens in Red Deer so that his work and the talent of others can help reach its maximum potential in saving and improving the lives of more central Albertans.

“Heart attacks and strokes are the leading causes of death in the entire developed world. The most effective treatment in saving lives and decreasing the chance of living with disability are the therapies delivered in a cath lab,” says the Argentinian-schooled physician.

(Supplied/Healthy Heart Institute)

“All of our organs require blood supply to survive. The treatment options for when a vessel is blocked off number only two; one is a clot buster, which works less than 50 per cent of the time; second is a mechanical procedure where a catheter is put inside the blood vessel to open the artery, and that works 95 per cent of the time.”

The ripple effect of having versus not having cardiac catheterization available in Red Deer is far-reaching.

When people have to go to Calgary or Edmonton, it means the treatment doesn’t get done as quickly, meaning permanent damage can occur and patients can die, or they recover but have recurring health issues requiring further treatment.

No local cath lab also puts undue strain on ambulances, he says; and vice versa, as it would free up ambulances once a cath lab opens.

For tickets to and more information about the fundraiser, visit Eventbrite.

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