Summit Draws Leaders to Address Heart and Lung Health in BC
Vancouver, February 20, 2008 — Researchers, educators, clinicians, policy makers, private sector leaders and members of the public will gather at a local summit tomorrow to address the enormous burden of heart and lung diseases. The summit, covering a timely topic for Heart Month, acknowledges the connection between heart and lung diseases and the urgency to address the issue.
Heart disease is the biggest killer of Canadians – an illness that 74,000 die from each year. Lung disease affects one in five Canadians, taking a life every 20 minutes. Together these diseases cost our health care system more than $26.5 billion annually. Scientists are increasingly discovering links between heart and lung diseases, including similar causative factors such as air pollution, cigarette smoke, obesity and viruses. Meanwhile the rates and costs of heart and lung diseases are on the rise around the world.
Hosted by the Providence Heart + Lung Institute at St. Paul’s Hospital, the summit will present the opportunities and challenges that British Columbians face in heart and lung health, and how the province will lead in addressing these. The summit is the first step in a concerted effort to place British Columbia at the forefront of heart and lung health.
What: Restoring and Sustaining Heart and Lung Health in the 21st Century
When: Thursday, February 21, 2008, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Where: Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue, Vancouver 580 West Hastings St.
Speakers:
Dr. Bruce McManus
Director, Providence Heart + Lung Institute at St. Paul’s Hospital
Dr. Peter Liu
Scientific Director, Institute of Circulatory and Respiratory Health, Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Member, Steering Committee, Canadian Heart Health Strategy
Member, Interim Steering Committee, National Lung Health Framework
Dr. Arden Pope
Mary Lou Fulton Professor of Economics, Brigham Young University
Board of Directors, American Lung Association of Utah
Launched in June 2007, the Providence Heart + Lung Institute at St. Paul's Hospital embraces all of Providence’s heart and lung research, education and care programs under one umbrella. It is the only such institute of its kind in Canada. Its mandate is to transform cardiovascular and pulmonary research and care —accelerating the transfer of new care solutions from discovery to clinics and communities to improve the lives of British Columbians.
Media are invited to attend the summit. For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact:
Leah Lockhart
Communications Specialist
Providence Health Care
604-806-8882
llockhart@providencehealth.bc.ca
