The Victoria Hospitals Foundation have announced that Royal Jubilee Hospital (RJH) is now home to a new program called, Study to Avoid Cardiovascular Events in British Columbia (SAVE BC), thanks to a generous commitment by donors Al and Eileen Gilchrist.
RJH joins four other hospitals in the study—the other heart centres in the province.
The program is designed to help patients, families, and healthcare professionals better identify, treat, and prevent premature atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD).
The inaugural patient accessed the program at RJH’s Vascular Risk and Prevention Clinic (VRPC) mid-September.
Dr. Chris Franco, who is a cardiologist at Royal Jubilee Hospital, is leading the SAVE BC project on the Island and celebrated this momentous win for Islanders.
Speaking on C-FAX 1070 with Al Ferraby, Franco said “With cardiac care getting more complicated, complex and demanding over time, our goal as caregivers is to deliver the very best care we can, at the very earliest time we can. Prevention is time—and this program will give back so much of it to our Islanders, and our hospitals. It will also alleviate some pressure on our system by supporting patients before they require more advanced and emergent hospital care.”
SAVE BC is already at hospitals in Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, and Kelowna.
Local donors Al & Eileen Gilchrist have committed $320,000 to the program through the Victoria Hospitals Foundation to bring it to Vancouver Island.