Please see below for information on an initiative we are supportive of:

My name is Daniel Lithwick and I’m a Research and Project Coordinator for the Sports Cardiology BC program from Vancouver Coastal Health and operated out of UBC Hospital. Our program has a large research component, and one study we are currently focusing on is testing young competitive athletes (aged 12-35) for cardiovascular disorder that can lead to sudden cardiac death. These events are rare, yet tragic occurrences. The purpose of the research is to get an understanding of the prevalence of these disorders in our local population (BC) as a study like this has never been conducted in Canada. The lead investigators are Dr. Saul Isserow, head of the UBC division of Cardiology, head of Cardiac Rehab at VGH and Medical Lead at Sports Cardiology BC and Dr. Jack Taunton, Medical Lead at Fortius Sport and Health Institute and Associate Professor at UBC.

We will be bringing our study to Victoria and were hoping that athletes from the Vancouver Island Soccer League might want to get involved. We will be conducting testing on November 29th and 30th from 9am-5pm at the Pacific Institute of Sports Excellence – 4371 Interurban Road. We will also be hosting an educational session on Sunday, November 30th at 530pm lead by Dr. Saul Isserow. He will be discussing aetiology of cardiovascular disease in the athlete, risk factors, warning signs and prevention. Register for the educational session via

Eventbrite

The testing in non-invasive and takes 10 minutes/athlete and consists of a heart health questionnaire (can be completed beforehand), physical exam with physician and resting 12-lead ECG. If the testing yields any potentially abnormal results (rare) we promptly organize for follow-up testing with an expert Sports Cardiologist (an appointment like this usually requires a 6-12 month wait). Several athletic teams from Universities and Colleges in the lower mainland have participated and we are excited to include teams from Vancouver Island in our study.

Please let me know your thoughts. Furthermore, feel free to pass on the information in this email and the attached documents to the other athletic programs in your community.

Find more information on our

website

Daniel Lithwick
Project and Research Coordinator, Sports Cardiology BC

Office: 604-822-1751
Cell: 778-879-0971
Fax: 604-822-7625