Sports Cardiology BC hosts inaugral education event

A first in Canada clinic called Sports Cardiology B.C. was started 18 months ago at VGH with an anonymous donor’s support fueled by the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.  Since then, a world class team has been formed, a clinic model was developed, a VGH/SPH cardiology rounds  presentation was made, and finally its inaugral public education event was held last week at Fortius Sport and Health complex.

A diverse crowd of over 80 including physicians, coaches, physiotherapists, exercise specialists, nurses, and trainers joined us for a captivating evening. The presence of this multi-disciplinary audience and the level of interest in the talks led to an incredible question/answer period lasting close to an hour.

For those of you interested in learning more about the ongoing work of Sports Cardiology B.C. please refer to the article written in the Vancouver Sun by Medical/Health Issues reporter Pamela Fayerman entitled: “UBC Researchers to Study Cardiac Abnormalities in Athletes”.

Following our event, we have received many emails from athletes, parents and coaches regarding participation in our study on young competitive athletes. The study has received ethics approval and we are just beginning to move into data collection phase for this study. At the same time, we have begun formulating the protocol for our next study targeting the Master’s athlete. We are also in the early stages of planning for our next event that will be targeting coaches as the first line of defense for athletes. The goal will be to educate them in preventing the occurrence of sudden cardiac death on the playing field. We will emphasize the importance of screening, recognizing warning signs and the use of automated external defibrillators (AEDs). Please keep an eye open for this event as we are expecting it to be very well attended.

You can visit the website for this novel clinic at   www.sportscardiologybc.org