BARRY’S BAY – The Cardiac Rehab and Secondary Prevention Services at St. Francis Memorial Hospital has received funding to expand its services and help more people recover from heart disease.
The good news comes just in time for February’s Heart Month.
People who have suffered from heart attacks or have undergone heart surgery can be referred to the specialized program.
Director of Nursing Joan Kuiack explained that when the cardiac rehab clinic started back in 2013, it was funded through the hospital’s operating budget. Now, through generous funding from the Champlain Local Health Integrated Network (LHIN), the program was able to expand and hire Registered Nurse Anne Burns.
Originally from the area, Burns was a nurse in cardiology for 25 years before coming to St. Francis Memorial Hospital in the emergency department three years ago.
She was living in Chicago in the late 1980s when the nursing school she was at completed its first angioplasty, which is the surgical repair or unblocking of a blood vessel.
Get your February 3, 2016 edition of The Valley Gazette to read the full story.