Impact Story – Interior Heart and Surgical Centre

Glen Harris thought he’d chosen the wrong meal one day. He came home early, suffering what he assumed was heartburn. “I was exhausted. I just wanted to crawl under the covers and get some rest,” he recalls.

When his wife, Peggy, got home she knew something wasn’t right. They decided to head for the hospital.

“They did an ECG when I arrived, and within minutes I was on a stretcher and sent into the cardiac ward,” says Glen.

He was having a heart attack.

He underwent an angioplasty – a life-saving procedure that involves inserting a stent in the compromised artery. It usually takes under an hour to perform, but gives patients so much more time to enjoy life after surgery.

Glen’s daughter, Jillian, certainly appreciates the time he was given.

As a former Bachelorette, and host of W Network’s Love It or List It, Jillian was on top of the world. She was packing for a family trip when her mother called from the hospital to give her the bad news.

“Don’t panic, my mom said. Well, I panicked.”

Jillian started to think about the future that might be stolen.

“I was thinking, he’s supposed to take me down the aisle, babysit my kids…will he get to be a granddad?”

She took great comfort, though, in the care her dad received from Cardiologist Dr. Stephen Fort and his surgical team, people she’d never met.

“The most important person in the world, their life is on the line. And these strangers…these are the people making the rest of life happen.”

Glen never had a moment’s doubt he was in good hands. “Everything went like clockwork,” he said. “They made me feel safe.”

“It can’t be understated, how much I appreciate the gift of a second chance.”

He’s not alone. KGH enjoys a tremendous success rate for angioplasties, higher than the average in BC’s healthcare system.

Thanks to the Be a Lifesaver Campaign, patients have advanced cardiac care right here at KGH, in state-of-the-art facilities.

Interior Heart & Surgical Centre

Home to 12 surgical specialties providing world class surgical care to over 750,000 people living throughout the Interior, the IHSC has 15 state-of-the-art operating rooms designed for an array of complex surgeries and procedures. The combination of technologies not only changes the landscape for patient care in the here-and-now, it creates opportunities for innovation in surgical approaches and procedures that were once unimaginable, providing a platform for training the next generation of cardiothoracic and vascular surgeons.