Welcome to the Nanaimo Heart Sisters, a support group for women living on Central Vancouver Island, BC, who have experienced heart or stroke health issues.
Our group’s mission is to create a safe and supportive space for women of all ages who want to share their experiences about surviving heart disease or stroke incidents in their lives.
Fair Care Alliance fighting to expand health care for Central and North Island residents
The Fair Care Alliance is a coalition of concerned medical, healthcare, business and community professionals and citizens who are fighting to ensure fair access to health care for the 460,000 people living north of Victoria, in Central and North Vancouver Island.
Specifically, the Alliance is advocating for a cardiac cath lab and patient tower to be built at an expanded Nanaimo Regional General Hospital.
To sign the Fair Care Alliance petition to support the building of a cardiac cath lab and patient tower at an expanded Nanaimo Regional General Hospital visit the Alliance’s petition page.
The Nanaimo Heart Sisters welcomed Barney Ellis-Perry, CEO of the Nanaimo & District Hospital Foundation, and Janice Krall, the Foundation’s CDO, to our monthly meeting on January 18, 2025. They offered advice on how the Heart Sisters can advocate as a group in support of a new Cath Lab that would serve residents of the Central and North Vancouver Island.
The Central/North Island is the only region in Canada with a population of over 400,000 without a Cath Lab; Victoria has two. Despite the high percentage of people experiencing heart disease in the Central/North Island region, the Foundation says these patients are dying or left with poor health outcomes due to the lack of advanced cardiac services and a Cath Lab outside of Victoria. A Cath Lab is a medical facility in which doctors can perform lifesaving, non-surgical interventions.
The Heart Sisters are encouraged to advocate and write in support of the Cath Lab to the cabinet ministers listed below. Please note: To reach the following emails, please highlight and copy each address below and then paste it into your Outlook or other email provider in order to send your message:
Minister of Health - Honourable Josie Osborne HLTH.Minister@gov.bc.ca
Minister of Finance - Honourable Brenda Bailey FIN.Minister@gov.bc.ca
Minister of Infrastructure - Honourable Bowinn Ma INF.Minister@gov.bc.ca
Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction - Honourable Sheila Malcomson, SDPR.Minister@gov.bc.ca
The Nanaimo Heart Sisters attended the standing-room only community rally in support of the Fair Care Alliance initiative at Beban Park Auditorium on September 12, 2024.
Heart Sisters Joanne Booth (left) and Shelley Wilkins Wallace (right).
News stories about Heart Disease and Stroke:
April 25, 2025 - Women’s heart health takes centre stage at Ottawa summit
April 25, 2025 - Stroke Prevention for Women: What You Need to Know
April 25, 2025 - Women With This Condition May Have a 99% Higher Risk of Stroke, According to Doctors
April 23, 2025 - Grip Strength Is A Sneaky Predictor Of Longevity—Here’s How To Improve Yours
April 14, 2025 - When it comes to sleep, quality may be just as important as quantity
Nanaimo Heart Sisters meet with Sheila Malcolmson, BC’s Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, to advocate for local cardiac catheter lab
On Friday, March 14, 2025, a delegation of three Heart Sisters made a presentation to Sheila Malcolmson, MLA for Nanaimo-Gabriola Island and BC Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction. The presentation was done at the Minister’s Nanaimo constituency office by Heart Sisters Shelley Wallace, Diane Shipclark and Joanne Booth. They called for a cardiac catheter lab to be constructed at or adjacent to Nanaimo Regional General Hospital. The new cath lab would serve residents living in Central/North Vancouver Island.
(left-right) Minister Malcolmson, Diane Shipclark, Shelley Wallace and Joanne Booth
The Heart Sisters were encouraged when the Minister advised them that she fully supports a catheter lab operating in Nanaimo. And she noted that although it was not in the recent BC government budget, she’s hopeful it will be in the next provincial budget.
More information to come…
Heart Sisters receive update about future Cath Lab in Nanaimo
(left-right) Janice Krall, Diane Shipclark and Barney Ellis-Perry.
Did you know?*
Heart disease and stroke are the #1 cause of premature death for women in Canada.
Heart disease and stroke claimed the lives of more than 32,200 women in Canada in 2019.
Every 17 minutes, a woman in Canada experiences a stroke. Out of a daily total of 85 women, 18 of them will die.
In Canada, up to one-third more women die of stroke than men.
One-half of women who experience a heart attack have their symptoms go unrecognized.
Indigenous women have a 53 per cent higher death rate from coronary heart disease than non-Indigenous women.
Five times more women die from heart disease than breast cancer.
South Asian women are more likely to have type 2 diabetes and women of African descent are more likely to have hypertension and obesity – all risk factors for stroke.
*Sources - from the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada:
Lives disrupted: The impact of stroke on women – 2018 Stroke Report
System failure: Healthcare inequities continue to leave women’s heart and brain health behind - 2023
From the Heart & Stroke Foundation:
February 4, 2025 - Heart & Stroke report: More people surviving congenital heart disease and living longer
Spring 2024 - The latest Heart & Stroke Foundation report focusses on stroke - Spring 2024 Impact Report
Winter 2024 - New Heart & Stroke Foundation report - Winter 2024 Impact Report
Stroke - “I am here for a reason.” Lynne’s Indigenous culture helped sustain her through a devastating stroke
Interesting links about how to prevent and manage heart disease and stroke:
Feel Healthy with Dr. Scott Lear - Visit this blog written by a Vancouver-based professor at Simon Fraser University who conducts research into the prevention and management of heart disease focusing on supporting healthy lifestyles. Dr. Lear also holds the Pfizer/Heart and Stroke Foundation Chair in Cardiovascular Prevention Research at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, BC.
Latest Heart & Stroke research breakthroughs - Read about the work researchers are doing to beat heart failure and stroke
The impact of COVID-19 - Learn how the coronavirus has impacted people living with heart disease or stroke
Island Health - Heart Health Services - Find out about the Island Heath services for those living with cardiac disorders