Jennifer McPhee
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Nov 30/01) - If all goes well at this week's Festival of Trees, Stanton Regional Hospital will be able to purchase some much-needed equipment that will go a long way in improving patient care.

Jesce Laserich places a miniature airplane on the Adlair Aviation tree. - Dawn Ostrem/NNSL photo

Proceeds from Yellowknife's first Festival of Trees this weekend will help purchase $135,000 of faster, clearer, heart-testing equipment for the hospital.

The new electrocardiograph (ECG) system will allow clinicians to read extremely clear signals immediately as clinicians connect 12 "leads" to a patient.

Leads are the wires which lead from the ECG machine to the patient's body.

Currently, clinicians must wait until they attach all 12 leads to discover if any lead isn't attached properly.

But the clearer signals of the new equipment will let doctors know right away if leads aren't attached.

Also, clinicians won't have to wait for a paper printout to get results, since the new equipment is digital.

And if doctors can know results faster, they can also act faster to save lives.

"We have a saying at the hospital, 'time is muscle,'" said Dr. John Morse, medical director of the Stanton Regional Hospital.

He said doctors act quickly to treat patients with heart problems. But, sometimes, doctors must take several ECG's before starting treatment. Anything that speeds up the process helps.

The hospital also plans to purchase stress testing equipment and four portable heart monitors.

"If we buy one piece of this equipment now, it won't interface with the system that we have" said Sue Glowach, executive director of the Stanton Regional Hospital Foundation. "So we need to replace whole system."

Patients take the portable monitors home and use them while going about their daily activities.

"You get a really regular readout," said Glowach.

Glowach said the need for this equipment is increasing.

The volume of ECG and stress test requests has increased by 60 per cent since 1992.

Health professionals perform over 10,000 ECGs each year in the NWT. Half of these are at the Stanton Regional Hospital.

And according to the NWT Health Status Report, circulatory disease is one of the leading causes of death in the NWT.

Risk factors for circulatory disease include smoking, diabetes, poor diet, sedentary lifestyle and aging.

"In the future, the number of ECG tests will only increase because our population is aging," said Glowach.

The Festival of Trees starts today at the St. Patrick-Weledeh gymnasiums.

The auction of 30 elaborately decorated trees worth $34,000 takes place tonight at the gym.

The festival continues over the weekend with a Santa Claus breakfast, local choirs, musicians, skits by school groups, and heart smart seminars.