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7 · Thursday, January 14, 2010 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.oakvillebeaver.com Resident specializes in matters of the heart By Angela Blackburn OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Long-time Oakville resident Dr. Michael Heffernan does not treat affairs of the heart lightly. And many are glad of that. "My wife picked me up at a high school dance in Grade 10 at Blakelock," laughs the local cardiologist, a 43-year resident. But it's not about his own love affair (the couple now has a 14-year-old daughter) that Heffernan will speak on Feb. 10. The Oakville-Trafalgar Memorial Hospital (OTMH) physician will address advances in cardiac care. Heffernan's affair with the heart began as an undergrad student at McMaster University studying biochemistry and genetic engineering in 1987. Heffernan is now an expert at OTMH and director of the Oakville Hospital Heart Function Clinic. While February is the month of matters of the heart, Heffernan will be outlining the fact that Oakville is involved in a cutting-edge cardiology program for heart attack patients. The event is at Le Dome Banquet Hall, 1173 North Service Rd. E. Heffernan has his Ph.D. in medical genetics. He went to medical school at the University of Toronto and was awarded one of two scholarships in Canada from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. It allowed him to pursue research during medical school and residency. Heffernan completed internal medicine and cardiology training at the Toronto General Hospital and St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto. He has been on staff at OTMH since 2001. Heffernan's accomplishments paid off for Eric Brown -- a 30-something, father of two, who after work last July, had a heart attack. "My wife is a nurse. She took my pulse and said it was the craziest pulse she'd ever seen," said Brown of Oakville. Sarah Brown called 911 -- the very best thing she could have done, said Heffernan. The paramedics who arrived, said Brown, told him he qualified for a "program" at Trillium in Mississauga so they would take him there. Brown said, that lying on a stretcher at the time, he wasn't going to argue. Again, according to Heffernan, thanks to a new cardiology program that's been in place in Halton for only a year, it was the best move for Brown. The doctor who works out of the Oakville Cardiologists -- a Dorval Drive office that not only boasts diagnostic testing facilities, but the offices of all six of Oakville's cardiologists -- said the new program sends all local heart attack patients to the regional angioplasty unit at Trillium Health Centre. That is from Oakville, Milton and Georgetown and within an average 70 minutes -- well within the 90-minute international guideline. Thanks to some legal negotiation and special training of paramedics, local paramedics are now qualified to diagnose a heart attack. Their ability to make that diagnosis in someone's home can then save a patient a trip through the Emergency department for the same diag- MICHAEL IVANIN / OAKVILLE BEAVER A BEAT ABOVE: Dr. Michael Heffernan will speak about cardiac care advances on Feb. 10. nosis and saves very valuable time in getting the patient to the angioplasty suite -- directly and earlier than in the past. Heffernan said half of heart attack patients call 911, the other half walks into Emergency clutching their chest. In Emergency, historically, a clot buster was administered. Then the patient waited for angioplasty. Now, at the angioplasty suite, a stent is used immediately. Heffernan said the Oakville hospital was involved in a pilot project that evaluated using the stent immediately. Successful results saw it implemented as a program last year. It was also published in the New England Journal of Medicine in June 2009. "That's the Holy Grail of medicine and it was nice to see Halton Healthcare Services on the front banner," said Heffernan. "I'm all for it," laughed Brown, who found himself in the "program" last July. According to Heffernan, virtually all heart attacks are cholesterol based. In layman's terms, cholesterol forms a blockage in one of the three routes blood has into the heart. Risk factors for heart attacks include: high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, high cholesterol and family history. According to Heffernan, those risk factors all act on the stability of the cholesterol, which, in heart attack cases, becomes unstable and causes a heap of trouble. As cholesterol blocks a passageway into the heart, the blocked portion of the heart begins to die and the rest of the heart reacts wildly -- thus Brown's erratic pulse recorded by his wife. In the angioplasty suite, the blocked passageway is opened with the stent, which is like a straw and a wire inside a balloon. As the balloon expands the straw pushes open the cholesterol blockage and moves the cholesterol aside. The wire holds the cholesterol back, allowing blood to flow. Once the blood is flowing again, the patient can recover. Medication is administered to reduce the offending cholesterol mass -- still held at bay by the stent. The timeliness of the treatment boosts recovery prognosis and reduces damage caused to the heart. While a similar process was being used days after the heart attack and clot buster in the past, Oakville patients are now getting directly to the treat- ment -- at the time of their heart attack. For Brown, Heffernan said the Oakville man's heart is virtually normal again. After recovering back at OTMH, Brown recuperated at home before returning to work seven weeks later, but has checked in for a stress test and has been attending the hospital's cardiac rehab program that takes place at the YMCA of Oakville. He also worked to reduce or eliminate many of the risk factors he said were present in his lifestyle including quitting smoking and focussing on appropriate nutrition. Brown said when his attack occurred it was his first day back at work after vacation. After work, the father of Jessica, 9 and Kaitlyn, 8, had just had dinner and was catching up on sports when he felt short of breath and nauseated. Heffernan's best advice to anyone who thinks they're having a heart attack: "Call 911." 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