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Foundations & Health Trusts YOUR GIFT MATTERS Your Foundation|Your Community |Your Health FOR A LOOK AT THE IMPORTANT WORK DONE BY FOUNDATIONS, TURN TO PAGES 6-7 CALGARY Zone NEWS Zone Your HealtH Care in Your CommunitY 2015 MAY Paul Rotzinger photo | scREEninG To sAvE TiME noT onlY woulD iT hElp ThE patiEnTs Emergency medicine specialists Dr. James Andruchow, left, and Dr. Andrew in shorteninG That AnxiETY pERioD, McRae, right, flank former patient Juan Garcia, a participant in a study they buT iT coulD Also clEAR ThE are leading which uses a new, faster blood-screening procedure to determine EMERGEncY AREA in A fAsTER way whether a patient is having a heart attack. Garcia had chest pains and it took “ more more than 12 hours of testing to rule out a heart attack. – Juan Garcia The new screening hopes to have results in about an hour. PAGE 3 Introducing F.I.T. (Fecal Immunochemical Test) Delve deeper at albertapreventscancer.ca PAGE 2 l o C a l l e a d e r s DR. fRancois belangeR bRenDa HUbanD Calgary Zone executive leadership team tAnninG bEds offEr dAnGEr with ‘thE Glow’ rad season is upon us and summer will soon be here. in the midst of Gpreparing for summer attire and graduation gowns, many young people i wAs suRpRisED at choose to head to the tanning salon. but indoor tanning can leave much more how quicKlY i fElT than just a temporary summer glow. using bETTER AfTER ThE tanning beds before the age of 35 can The goal of the Enhanced recovery After Surgery sEconD surgery increase your risk of developing melanoma by (ErAS) program is to improve recovery time. “ 59 per cent. – Patient Mary Anne Prosofsky, who And the younger you are, the greater the nEw ERAs credits her quick recovery after surgery danger. to changes in her care following new legislation passed this spring is aiming implementation of the ErAS project to reduce the impact of artificial tanning, sEEs iMpRovED particularly on young people. Story by Tara Grindle | once Alberta’s skin cancer prevention Photos by Merle Prosofsky Photography Act is enacted, businesses in Alberta will no REcovERiEs and file | longer be allowed to provide artificial tanning ight and day” – that’s how Mary Anne largest number of patients through ERAs, this services to minors. Advertising of artificial prosofsky describes the difference means patients stay an average of 7.4 days in tanning services directly targeted at youth will “nin her recovery time between two hospital compared to 10.4 before ERAs. also be off limits. recent surgeries. she credits a quick “we’ve noticed a significant change There are several common fallacies about recovery after the second surgery to in patients’ energy levels and their indoor tanning. changes made in her care as part of willingness to participate in their own Myth no. 1 is that getting a base tan will Alberta health services’ Enhanced care,” says Miranda Klein, the ERAs prevent a burn later on. The reality is a base Recovery After surgery (ERAs) project. program co-ordinator at the university of tan only provides the equivalent of about “i was surprised at how quickly i felt Alberta hospital in Edmonton. spf 2 (sun protection factor) and is not better after the second surgery,” says she supports patients such as enough to prevent a burn. the 59-year-old Edmonton woman. “i prosofsky through their surgery journey. ProSofSky Myth no. 2 is that tanning beds are a good had more energy and was up sooner.” The ERAs program encourages way to get vitamin D. wrong! supplements or ERAs provides consistent ways of managing patients and their families to understand and take drops are a safer and less expensive way to care before, during and after surgery with an aim part in their care. get vitamin D. of helping patients stay strong physically and “having someone like Miranda was an Myth no. 3 is that artificial tanning is mentally, improving recovery time and reducing awesome resource for helping answer any actually better than the sun’s rays because complications. what began as a pilot project for questions,” says prosofsky. “The program lays it’s in a controlled environment. The truth is colorectal surgery at three sites in september out what to expect and, if you follow it, you that tanning beds can emit up to 15 times 2013 has expanded to six sites. To date, the will be prepared and feel confident.i didn’t more uvA radiation than the mid-day sun. project has helped close to 1,000 colorectal experience any nausea after the second surgery Just as it’s important to talk to youth about surgery patients get back on their feet sooner by and i was in hospital three days less. being able responsible alcohol use and safe sex, it’s also reducing fasting times, increasing the intake of to get home sooner was a huge benefit.” important for parents and loved ones to talk carbohydrates and using medications that allow The ERAs pilot project is led by the AHS’ about the dangers of indoor tanning. patients to move and eat soon after surgery. Diabetes, obesity and nutrition strategic clinical for more information, as well as tips and Early data from the first two ERAs pilot sites network (SCN) along with the support of the tricks on how to talk to your teen about the shows the average length of stay for patients surgery SCN, which will be spreading the project risks of artificial tanning, visitthebigburn.ca . n has decreased by three days. for the peter to additional types of surgery and across more lougheed centre in calgary, which has seen the AHS facilities. n What’s on y our MedList? Your entire health care team needs a complete medication list: prescribed medications, inhalers, patches, ointments, eye drops, vitamins – even herbal supplements and nicotine gum. Your MedList helps your team provide the safest treatment: albertahealthservices.ca/medlist www.albertahealthservices.ca There are plenty of health care options available. Learn yours by visiting the AHS website. i n Y o u r z o n e PAGE 3 sCrEEninG out hEArt AttACk Emergency medicine specialist Dr. James Andruchow showcases a room at foothills Medical Centre used to help diagnose cardiac events. Suffering chest pains is bad enough, but having to wait up to 12 hours for testing to rule out a heart attack can be extremely stressful. Now, a blood test may be able to take just a couple of hours to confirm a patient has not had a heart attack, easing pressure on the patient – and the emergency department Story by Greg Harris | Photos by Colin Zak and Paul Rotzinger uan Garcia, a 45-year-old calgary engineer had a heart attack is through a blood test called save thousands of bed hours of emergency who had bypass surgery in 2012, has seen a troponin assay. The current process requires department space every month.” Jhis share of the health system. repeat blood tests and can take between six The new generation of troponin tests is 10 one day earlier this year he went to the and 12 hours to complete. however, accelerated times more sensitive than the previous version, emergency department at 8 a.m. with chest diagnostic protocols using the new generation which decreases the risk of missed heart pains, but it wasn’t until 9 p.m. that doctors of tests could reduce that to as little as one or attacks. were finally able to rule out a heart attack. two hours, and some patients may be safely if results are interpreted judiciously, it also has “obviously that period when you’re most discharged following the results of a single a low risk of increased false positives. anxious is when you’re told, ‘we’re just blood test taken on arrival,” Although the new troponin tests are going to take a blood sample, but you says Andruchow, who is also used in a handful of other jurisdictions have to wait and sit for six hours when a clinical assistant professor in canada and Europe, the best way we’ll draw another blood sample, and in the cumming school of of harnessing their higher sensitivity hopefully within an hour or two of that Medicine at the university of – without increasing false positives – we’ll get the results,’” says Garcia. calgary. hasn’t yet been established. so far, That lengthy waiting period that some Troponin is a protein released researchers in the calgary study haven’t cardiac patients experience could into the bloodstream during a seen a higher rate of false positives. one day be significantly shortened, GArCIA heart attack. McrAE Garcia, who was subsequently depending on the results of a new Dr. Andrew McRae, a co- diagnosed with recurring muscle pain research study underway in the emergency investigator and emergency medicine specialist, that had flared up as a result of his bypass department at foothills Medical centre. estimates the four adult acute care emergency surgery, is one study participant who appreciates Researchers are evaluating the reliability of a departments in calgary combined see 40 the potential benefits of the research. new blood-screening procedure that shortens by or more patients with possible heart attack “not only would it help the patients in several hours the time it takes for physicians to symptoms every day. shortening that anxiety period, but it could also rule out a heart attack. “it turns out that about 85 per cent of those clear the emergency area in a faster way,” he if the test proves accurate, not only would patients have not experienced a heart attack, says.

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