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Albertans again encouraged to seek medical care if needed

EDMONTON, AB – If you need medical care, please go get checked out.

Alberta Health Services says it has seen a decline this winter in hospital admissions for stroke and heart attack which is a trend similar to what was seen last March and April at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cardiologist Dr. Michelle Graham says without treatment, you may end up dead – or seriously disabled if you have a heart attack or stroke. “You may survive that heart attack while staying at home, but will be at much higher risk of developing heart failure, which has a worse prognosis than many cancers.”

This reminder follows the recent launch of an AHS campaign encouraging Albertans to ‘listen to their bodies’, and if something feels off, to go see your family doctor.

Evidence shows that early treatment for heart attacks can limit or even prevent heart damage; and for strokes, a delay in treatment of as little as 25 minutes can leave stroke patients with severe disability or even death.

In a statement sent out on Tuesday, AHS says the COVID-19 pandemic has meant that some Albertans have not sought treatment out of concern over the virus. Measures taken to ensure the safety of patients may also be viewed by some as an additional barrier to receiving care.

However, throughout the pandemic, Alberta’s health system has been open to patients to diagnose and manage illness and disease.

(With files from AHS)

Patrick Siedlecki
Patrick Siedlecki
Pat has been a mainstay in the CJOC News department from the time the station launched in 2007. He's been in the position of News Director since then and has been anchoring daily news casts as well as reporting and working behind the scenes. Community is important to him and keeping CJOC listeners and readers informed about what's happening across southern Alberta and beyond. Pat has been in radio broadcasting for the past 24 years, starting in Port Alberni on Vancouver Island in 1997 and then moving up island to Nanaimo for another few years before heading to Lethbridge in 2007. Pat grew up in the small Saskatchewan farming town of Foam Lake. After high school, he went to Western Academy Broadcasting College (WABC) in Saskatoon prior to moving to the island. Pat also spent several years broadcasting hockey in the BCHL as well as seven years as the radio voice of the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the WHL. Pat has been working at Cornerstone Funeral Home in Lethbridge as a Certified Life Celebrant and Funeral Assistant since 2016. News and sports have always been Pat's passion from the time he was a teenager and he's always been grateful to have had the opportunity to make that part of what's been a fun and long radio career!
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