Jake Deboer was 62-years-old when he collapsed to the floor of his gym with chest pains. He was having a heart attack.
Nearly 12 years later, Deboer is in good shape and hasn't had another cardiac episode, something he attributes to London's Cardiac Fitness Institute.
The soon to be shuttered program at London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) was the focus of a roundtable meeting Monday involving the institute's patients and Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath.
"To see yet another program being cut, where Londoners won't have access to these vital supports as they get over a heart attack or a heart surgery, it's shameful," said Horwath. "It is the exact opposite direction that we should be going in."
The LHSC recently announced plans to shut down the program this March, angering patients who rely on its services.
"To close this centre is a disservice to long-term patients who have benefited greatly... how many people has Dr. Larry Patrick (program head cardiologist) assisted over the many years that has kept people from having more heart attacks or strokes and has kept people out of hospital which has saved the government lots of money? The closing of this renowned fitness institute is just plain and simply a very wrong decision for our community," Deboer told Horwath.
The Institute opened in 1981 and currently provides around 1,400 people with heart problems on-going counselling about proper nutrition, medication, and exercise. Patients have access to annual stress tests and an exercise room filled with equipment. But the LHSC stated the program falls outside of its mandate and it can no longer afford the $150,000 annually it chips in toward the service.
New patients will be referred to the ministry-funded Cardiac Rehabilitation and Secondary Prevention (CRSP) program at St. Joseph’s Health Care - a program that only lasts for six months.
"Six months is not enough. You can't change your lifestyle completely in six months, you need the supports, you need the comradery," said Horwath. "What happens in the seventh month or the eighth month or the ninth month? This is what these folks are saying the program is there for them on-going. It has been there in some cases for two decades, the point being they found the solution that helps them to maintain those changes over long periods of time and that is the only thing that helps them to stay healthy."
Roland Laford, 78, has been going to the institute since he suffered a heart attack in 1989.
"They have been my lifeline," said Laford. "I challenge these executives, every one of them that are trying to shut us down, for one day go to the Cardiac Fitness Institute not in your suit and tie, in your exercise equipment with your running shoes on. Talk to the people that you're affecting. Don't look at damn numbers. Talk to us, find out what has kept us going."
Horwath is calling on the Liberal government to step in and stop the impending closure. But the provincial health ministry indicated a week ago it will have “no role” in the Institute's closure.
"We know that these kinds of services are important to people, we know that they have been successful," said Horwath. "It is very, very worrisome that our Health Minister and our Premier in Ontario are prepared to just throw up their hands and say 'we're not interested in helping, we're not interested in making a difference here.' That is not right."
