Golden Heart Affair 50th Anniversary (Adult Congenital Heart Disease)

The Adult Congenital Heart Disease Program at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre is the first and one of the largest congenital heart disease programs in the world. It serves as both a provincial (Ontario) and national resource program for adults with congenital heart disease. The ACHD Program has provided care to more than 12,000 patients since 1959 and a multidisciplinary team provides expert care to 6,000 active patients.

Directed by Dr. Erwin Oechslin, the ACHD Program has achieved international recognition for its longstanding leadership in this challenging and often neglected aspect of medicine and is internationally recognized as the premier program for ACHD for its successes in patient care, education and research. It is the only congenital cardiac program for adults in Toronto and, together with 14 other regional programs across Canada, joins in the Canadian Adult Congenital Heart Network. The care and research standards of the ACHD Program have advanced ACHD care worldwide.

The ACHD program at PMCC and the Labatt Family Heart Centre at the Hospital for Sick Children have a long standing collaboration between ACHD cardiologists, pediatric cardiologists, and congenital heart surgeons which is recognized as a model providing the best care for young adults graduating from pediatric cardiology.

Congenital heart disease includes defects of the heart present since birth due to developmental abnormality of one or more structures of the heart or blood vessels (i.e. narrowed or leaky valves, communication between chambers, abnormal connection of chambers/arteries, etc). Many patients have had surgical repairs in childhood, but the majority of them are not cured and continue to need surveillance and further care as adults. Some congenital defects are not discovered until adulthood.

Adult Congenital Heart Disease Program Milestones/Innovations

1959: The Congenital Heart Clinic opens at Toronto General Hospital
1989: ACHD Program adopts the name Toronto Congenital Cardiac Centre for Adults
1982: Adult Congenital Heart Disease Program officially formalized at TGH
1999: Bitove Family Foundation Professorship in Adult Congenital Heart Disease established with gift from the Bitove Family
1999: The virtual Nevil Thomas Library opened (www.achd-online.com) providing access to multimedia learning resources on congenital heart defects in the adolescent and adult
2002: ACHD Program is recognized by The National Institute of Health as offering a gold standard of care
2005: First in Canada to perform percutaneous repair of valve stenosis, in which patients hearts are repaired without open-heart surgery. Cardiologists can repair damaged mitral pulmonary and aortic valves using non-surgical techniques
2006: The physical Nevil Thomas Library opened (Peter Munk Cardiac Centre, TGH)
2006: ACHD Nevil Thomas Televideoconferences were launched (Hamilton, Ottawa, London, Kingston)
2009: Dr. Helena Jaczek, MPP gives a Membership Statement to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario recognizing the ACHD program at TGH/PMCC as a world leader, highlighting the need for health and quality-of-life improvement for those dealing with CHD
2009: ACHD Program celebrates 50th Anniversary

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• achd
• adult congenital heart disease
• peter munk cardiac centre
• university health network