47th Uplands Golf Club Annual Heart Tournament
Thank you to everyone who participated in this year’s event. Every day, people unexpectedly find themselves at the cardiac unit and thanks to the equipment you have funded, nurses, cardiologists, and surgeons can provide them with world-class care—something we all wish for our loved ones.
2024 Women’s Heart Tournament Photos
2024 Men’s Heart Tournament Photos
Thank You for Advancing Cardiac Care Here on Vancouver Island
Since 1978, the Uplands Golf Club Heart Tournament has been bringing people together for a day of fun, community building, and supporting cardiac care on Vancouver Island. Your dedication has helped foster a vision of cardiac excellence in Victoria while also supporting one of British Columbia’s longest running charitable and successful golf tournaments.
Every year, over 200,000 of our community members receive cardiac assessments at Royal Jubilee and Victoria General hospitals, and approximately 700 cardiac surgeries are performed each year. While many can attest to the uncertainty and hardship that accompany the news of a cardiac condition, Vancouver Island patients can take comfort in the fact they have access to a world-class cardiac program – thanks to supporters like you!
Year after year, donors, sponsors, and players have united to help fund leading-edge equipment through the Victoria Hospitals Foundation for the Heart Health Centre for Excellence at Royal Jubilee Hospital—host to one of the finest cardiac programs in the country. Leaders like you have raised over $3.3 million for your fellow Vancouver Islanders. That’s an incredible legacy.
Past & Present: You’ve Made an Impact for Cardiac Care
With your help over the past 46 years, we have raised money to contribute state-of-the-art equipment for the cardiac care unit at Royal Jubilee Hospital.
2023: C-Arm
As a part of the Imaging Is Power Campaign, tournament funds were put towards the replacement of a 13 year old C-Arm, a machine which supports over 2,000 cardiac interventional procedures every year.
2022: Coronary Care Unit Beds
In 2022, the Uplands Golf Club Annual Heart Tournament supported the funding of Coronary Care Unit (CCU) beds.
The CCU cares for critically ill medical cardiac patients who are unstable and require intensive monitoring and interventions. This includes those who have experienced a heart attack, cardiac arrest, major heart rhythm problems, aortic tears, or require fluid drainage.
The unit was in need of new beds that were ergonomically designed to provide safety, comfort, and support for critically ill patients and safe and easy use for the care provider.
2021: Mitral Valve Set
In 2021, your support helped fund instruments designed to perform mitral heart valve surgeries. These minimally invasive tools reduce pain, lower risk for infection, and improve recovery times for patients on Vancouver Island undergoing this type of surgery. Having these instruments on hand at Royal Jubilee Hospital also reduces the number of referrals to the mainland, keeping cardiac patients closer to home and to their families while they heal.
2019 & 2020: Echocardiography
In 2019 and 2020, funds raised supported new Echocardiogram ultrasounds for Royal Jubilee Hospital. The 2019 Tournament contributed $100,000 toward this vital equipment. In 2020, the virtual tournament raised over $100,000.
The new ultrasound systems for the Echocardiography Lab will increase the number of high-quality diagnostic cardiac imaging procedures that can be conducted in a day, thereby speeding up diagnosis and potentially life-saving treatment options for patients.
2017 & 2018: Heart Catheterization Laboratory
Funds raised in 2017 and 2018 helped fund a new C-Arm for the Heart Catheterization Laboratory at Royal Jubilee Hospital as part of the Victoria Hospitals Foundation’s $3.2 million In A Heartbeat campaign. $160,000 was raised through the 2017 Heart Tournament and $120,000 was raised in 2018.
Not every cardiovascular ailment requires surgery, but many still require intervention. Patients requiring this specialized care called Interventional Cardiology specialty come to the Heart Catheterization Lab at Royal Jubilee Hospital.
Our expert caregivers in the Heart Catheterization Lab and the Didar S. (Ted) Doman Cardiac Short Stay Unit pioneered an innovative radial artery access approach for diagnostic and complex interventional cardiac procedures. These involve a catheter is introduced through the patient’s wrist rather than their groin. In fact, Royal Jubilee Hospital and its clinicians are so renowned for interventional cardiac care that they host an international fellowship in Interventional Cardiology, a program which is regularly full to capacity.
A floor-mounted C-arm fluoroscopic X-ray system is used during an angiogram. This diagnostic procedure is performed by a cardiologist to obtain detailed X-ray images of the patient’s heart and coronary blood vessels. The images produced by an angiogram help the doctor identify any arteries that are narrowed or blocked, exactly where those blockages are, and their size. This interventional diagnostic procedure is performed for patients who have experienced symptoms of concern, who have a significant family history of heart disease, or who have had an abnormal cardiac stress test—all possible indicators of heart disease.
2016: Electrophysiology Laboratory
In 2016, the Uplands community helped fund an Electrophysiology Recording System for the Electrophysiology Lab by contributing $145,000 toward the purchase of this vital equipment.
Electrophysiology (EP) is a cardiac specialty that focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of complex heart rhythm disorders, also known as arrhythmias. When a patient’s heart requires mechanical support, electrophysiologists are trained to properly program, implant, and monitor a full spectrum of cardiac devices including pacemakers and implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICDs).
An EP recording system is the central point for images, waveforms, and other patient data to create a combined picture for the care teams in the Electrophysiology Lab. Visualization of the electrical behaviour of the heart provided by the recording system is essential for our cardiac teams to design patient care strategies and perform life-saving diagnostic and treatment procedures.
2015: Cardiac Critical Care
In 2015, the $135,000 raised through the Heart Tournament supported new external pacemakers for the cardiac critical care units at Royal Jubilee Hospital.
These external pacemakers are used for patients recovering from open-heart surgery or who are suffering from cardiac ailments that create abnormal slow heart rates. When a patient’s heart is not beating normally, an external pacemaker can be used to deliver electric current impulses through its attached leads to normalize the heartbeat.
At Royal Jubilee Hospital, the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit is an eight-bed unit where patients recover directly following open-heart or other cardiac surgical procedures. On average, a combination of three to five open-heart, thoracic/abdominal aneurysm, and/or laser-lead surgeries are accommodated on a daily basis.
2014: Medical and Surgical Heart Health Units
In 2014, the Heart Tournament raised $135,000 for a Telemetry System for the Medical and Surgical Heart Health Units in the Royal Jubilee Hospital Patient Care Centre (PCC).
The Medical Heart Health Unit is a 24-bed unit in the PCC. Here, our care teams offer specialized care for arrhythmia management for patients with a variety of cardiovascular conditions. A pacemaker program is also part of the unit’s care delivery model, as is the highly recognized same‐day cardiac surgical admission education program.
The Surgical Heart Health Unit is a 16-bed unit also located in the PCC where open-heart surgery patients are cared for while they recover following surgery after their stay in the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit.
This telemetry system funded by the Tournament means patients on these units are able to be remotely monitored by their caregivers as they move about their room, the unit, and the hospital. This means a safer environment for patients’ recovery because their care teams can keep a closer watch. Vital signs and heart rhythms are all captured in one central monitoring system, improving care and efficiencies.
2013: Cardiac Rehabilitation
Similar to 2014, the 2013 tournament raised $140,000 for Telemetry Equipment for the Cardiac Rehabilitation program at Royal Jubilee Hospital.
The Heart Function Clinic plays a vital role in this program. Here, education and medical management is provided to people living with cardiovascular disease to improve their quality of life. Patients are generally in contact with the clinic for about six months, receiving medical assessment by a cardiologist and tests as required. They also receive guidance, support, and referrals to other programs and services in the community such as nutritional and exercise counselling, self-management education, and support groups.
The wireless telemetry equipment monitors cardiac patients while they move freely during exercise. The system can detect certain conditions before a patient even experiences any symptoms, allowing for early intervention and treatment.
You Are Helping Local Cardiac Care Patients
Fran’s Story
As a grateful cardiac patient, Fran knows firsthand the life-saving impact of specialized cardiac equipment at Royal Jubilee Hospital. Fran didn’t show any symptoms, but she was born with a defective aortic valve. When Fran’s doctor sent her for an echocardiogram, it revealed that her condition was life-threatening. Fran needed open-heart surgery right away—and the cardiac team at Royal Jubilee Hospital was there for her.
Fran is also a proud member of the Uplands Golf Club. She’s sharing her heart health story in support of the Uplands Golf Club Annual Heart Tournament. The 2020 tournament funded a Portable Echocardiography Ultrasound Machine—the same equipment that was essential to Fran’s diagnosis, treatment, and recovery. Register and donate to join the tournament now and improve cardiac care for patients like Fran.
Nancy’s Story
For over 25 years, Nancy Greer has participated in and donated to the Uplands Golf Club Annual Heart Tournament as a way to honour her late mother, Lilian Life, and the exceptional care she received from Island Health’s Heart Health program.
“Three of my grandparents, my mother, and my older brother all died from heart disease,” says Nancy. “But at 77, I was golfing four days a week, and vigorously walking or swimming the other three. I was certain that heart disease was never going to catch up with me.”
But, on January 12 of this year, Nancy had just begun her usual walk when she experienced a burning sensation in the middle of her chest that only abated when she stopped to rest. She returned home and had no further pain, but called her doctor, who urged her to go to the Emergency Department if it happened again. The next day, during a round of golf, the burning sensation returned…
Thank You to Our 2024 Sponsors
Contact Us
Questions or Comments?
Please contact Rachel Lee, Development Officer
Victoria Hospitals Foundation
250-519-1750
Rachel.Lee2@islandhealth.ca
2024 Sponsorship Opportunities
To learn about becoming a sponsor for this year’s event, please contact Rachel Lee, Development Officer of the Victoria Hospitals Foundation by email at Rachel.Lee2@islandhealth.ca
Copyright 2023 Victoria Hospitals Foundation
Charitable Registration #10793 5637 RR0001