Two children's heart doctors for Winnipeg Regional

The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority has successfully recruited two children's heart doctors from London, Ont.

WRHA spokeswoman Heidi Graham confirmed doctors Dion Pepelassis and Ilan Buffo of the Children's Hospital of Western Ontario were "aggressively recruited" to come work at Winnipeg's Children's Hospital, which has only one pediatric cardiologist for a population of 1.2 million.

The London doctors will leave their positions in Ontario at the end of June. The two are then expected to start in Winnipeg next summer, said Graham.

The move has left the Southwestern Ontario region with no such specialists for 450,000 kids.

"As every other jurisdiction does when there's a shortage, we recruit," said Graham.

"Manitoba has been short two cardiac specialists since this past summer," she said. The WRHA has been searching for specialists across Canada and the U.S. for months.

The two heart doctors weren't talking yesterday, but the London Health Sciences Centre's senior medical director for women and children said he believes they were offered "a very attractive overall package" in Winnipeg.

Winnipeg Sun

Health Council of Canada to release report on "Why Health Care Renewal Matters"

On Thursday the 13th of November, the Health Council of Canada will release a report entitled "Why Health Care Renewal Matters: Learning from Canadians with Chronic Health Conditions."

More than nine million Canadians suffer from one or more chronic health conditions such as diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure, heart disease, arthritis, and mood disorders.

In this report, we turn to Canadians living with chronic health conditions to learn from them about their experiences with care, and demonstrate why health care renewal matters to individuals whose health and well-being are at stake.
Collectively, we bear the significant, and growing, health care and economic burden of our failure to prevent chronic conditions and to provide high quality chronic illness care.

This report is the second in a series in which the Health Council examines whether Canada's health care system is meeting the needs of people with chronic health conditions and how changes to care can improve health outcomes.

The highlights of the report will be presented coming Thursday at 10 am in Richmond, B.C.