The Bruce McManus Cardiovascular Biobank (BMCB) team returned to this year’s day-long Heart Centre Nursing Education Day at St. Paul’s Hospital. As an invited exhibitor, the BMCB hosted a Hands-On-Hearts gross anatomy booth featuring human explanted hearts.
This year the annual education day, hosted by the St. Paul’s Hospital Heart Centre and Providence Health Care, marked its 25th year with the theme of Heart Failure. The event brought together approximately 160 cardiac nurses and other health-care professionals. The attendees heard expert talks, participated in workshops, and took the opportunity to reflect on the evolving role of cardiac nursing.
The BMCB booth gave nurses a rare opportunity to examine the physical effects of advanced heart disease, including cardiomyopathies, ischemic heart disease, end-stage heart failure and implanted devices, such as left ventricular assist devices and bioprosthetic/mechanical heart valves.
One meaningful moment of the day for all was when three heart transplant recipients − Marc Bains, Dr. Jillianne Code and Naomi Lee − held their own explanted hearts. This created a special connection between not only patients and nurses but also to the research behind cardiac care.
A rare reunion with their own hearts
Dr. Jillianne Code, the president and co-founder of HeartLife Foundation, gave a presentation as a patient partner with the St. Paul’s Hospital Heart Failure and Transplant Program, sharing her experience undergoing two heart transplants. Marc Bains, the executive director and co-founder of HeartLife Foundation, staffed the HeartLife booth, connecting with nurses, sharing resources, and raising awareness about the patient experience. Naomi Lee, a HeartLife ambassador, attended as a patient advocate and nursing student.
Each recipient had previously visited the biobank to see their own explanted heart, but this was the first time the three transplant recipients shared that experience together. Holding their hearts side by side, they were able to see and compare the organs that had carried them through different journeys. The moment gave nurses a rare opportunity to hear directly from people with lived experience of advanced heart disease, mechanical circulatory support and transplant, while seeing the physical effects of those journeys in the hearts on display.
“Holding my own heart is hard to put into words,” said Marc Bains who in 2018 was the 500th heart transplant recipient in BC. “It is emotional, humbling, and strangely peaceful. That heart carried me through the hardest years of my life. To stand there with Jillianne and Naomi, each of us with our own story, was a reminder of how much patients survive before transplant, and how much life is possible after it.”
HeartLife Foundation is one of North America’s leading patient-led heart disease charities. The organization works to raise awareness of cardiovascular disease, support and educate patients, families and caregivers, and advocate for better and more equitable care.
“It was meaningful for our team to reconnect with Marc, Jillianne and Naomi, and to see them share this experience with nurses. It was a powerful reminder that each heart in the biobank is part of a unique patient story.” — Dr. Gurpreet Singhera, manager of the BMCB.
Seeing heart failure up close
Throughout the day, nurses visited the Hands-On-Hearts booth to observe, touch and ask questions about the specimens on display. The booth was hosted by BMCB team members Dr. Singhera, Coco Ng and Tiffany Chang who guided attendees through the anatomy and pathology of the hearts. For many nurses, the booth offered an experience rarely available outside an anatomy lab: seeing how disease, injury and treatment physically alter the heart.
The BMCB team thanks the St. Paul’s Hospital Heart Centre and Providence Health Care staff for hosting the event and inviting them to take part in the day!