COMPASS CARDS PUT TO THE TEST
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COUNCIL WANTS PARKING GUIDELINES
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BACK TO SCHOOL LABOUR DISPUTES
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Wine, women and books go well together. Page A3
WEDNESDAY
SEPTEMBER 4 2013 www.newwestnewsleader.com
City, district to talk about Lancers Grant Granger
ggranger @newwestnewsleader.com
MARIO BARTEL/NEWSLEADER
Linette Ho nearly died last year when she contracted pneumonia as she crammed for her final exams at Moscrop secondary in Burnaby. But with the help of a special mobile heartlung machine developed by the cardiac team at Royal Columbian Hospital, she was able to get to specialized care.
Stretcher delivers life to critical patients Royal Columbian looking to fund improvement of doctors’ prototype gurney Mario Bartel
photo@newwestnewsleader.com
Linette Ho begins her second year of studying commerce at the University of British Columbia this week. Just over a year ago she was fighting for her life. Her lungs were sick with pneumonia. Her heart stopped twice. But a specialized piece of equipment developed and jury-
rigged by a team from the cardiac unit at Royal Columbian Hospital was able to keep the critically ill Ho alive as she was transported to RCH for intensive care. Now the mobile Extracorpreal Life Support system is going into production and the RCH Foundation is looking to raise the $41,000 needed to add the modified portable heart-lung machine to the hospital’s life-saving arsenal. Ho, 19, was cramming for her last round of exams at Moscrop secondary school when she
collapsed from exhaustion. She was taken to Burnaby Hospital where her lungs collapsed. As her condition worsened, doctors there decided she needed to be transferred to RCH for special cardiac care. But she was so sick, she was unlikely to survive the trip. That dilemma had vexed the cardiac team at RCH for years. As the primary cardiac care hospital in the Fraser Health region, they have all the tools and expertise on hand to treat gravely ill heart patients. But first they have to reach the hospital
still alive. A team led by chief perfusionist Dustin Spratt, a former paramedic, and cardiac surgeon Dr. Derek Gunning adapted the components of a portable heart-lung machine to attach them to a gurney that could be wheeled into and out of a standard ambulance. If the patients couldn’t get to them, they’d just go get the patient. “We felt we had to be able to respond whenever calls come in,” said Spratt. Please see GURNEY, A9
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City council wants to talk to the school district and other groups about modernizing the Lancers Dance during New Westminster’s traditional May Day festivities. Council approved setting up the discussion at its Aug. 26 meeting. Coun. Chuck Puchmayr proposed the move in July because many residents have said the traditional dance between the mature men of the Royal Lancers and the Grade 5 girls in the May Queen Suite makes them uncomfortable. “This is no disrespect to the tradition and no disrespect to the people engaged in the Lancers Dance, [but] this has been an issue where more and more people have approached me,” said Puchmayr, who emphasized he was not saying anything untoward was taking place or being disrespectful to the tradition. Please see STORY, A9