Aims of the Pacific Open Heart Association
- To assist in the encouragement and preparation of patients about to have open heart surgery and to encourage and support patients and their families after surgery.
- To bring together people who have had open heart surgery through our Pacific HeartBeat newsletter, Facebook, website, GM and annual golf tournament.
- To seek funds from various sources, including donations, to promote patient education by way of take-home information.
- To help the hospitals to provide needed materials which improve patient care and/or comfort.
History of the Pacific Open Heart Association
The Pacific Open Heart Association, a registered charity, was founded in 1986 and incorporated in 1988 under the B.C. Societies Act. Our members come from British Columbia and the Yukon.
Membership shall be open to all persons who are waiting for or have undergone cardiovascular-related procedures and to their respective spouses and children.
Additionally, interested members of the general public may upon application become entitled to membership upon the terms which may be decided by the Directors from time to time.
We offer a hospital visitation program comprised of team members who visit patients during their hospitalization. It began at the open heart surgery hospitals—St. Paul’s Hospital, Vancouver General Hospital and Royal Columbian Hospital and was expanded to “feeder” hospitals in the lower mainland of British Columbia for patients awaiting transfer for open heart surgery.
Our visitation teams meet with about fifty patients per week. The cardiac surgeons, cardiologists and nursing staff at the hospitals we visit, endorse our visitation program and report beneficial results for patients and their families.