CCHA responds to Star article about Heart & Stroke
On Thursday November 28, The Toronto Star ran an article about the Heart & Stroke foundation's $130 war-chest (click HERE to read it) - money they had saved up over the years from donations and fundraising efforts.
In response, CCHA wrote a letter to the Editor which ran in the Saturday December 1st issue, and is as follows:
Nov. 29
Your article has finally exposed the Heart and Stroke Foundation for what it really is – a self-interested monopoly that has capitalized on the generosity of Canadians. As president of the Canadian Congenital Heart Alliance, a non-profit organization representing 180,000 Canadians born with heart defects, I always believed that my donations would help me and my fellow patients live longer, healthier lives. Sadly, I was duped.
The Canadian Congenital Heart Alliance, as well as the doctors who treat us, have repeatedly requested funds from both the Ontario Chapter and the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation to assist us with funding congenital heart clinics. We have been turned down every time. The health-care system is so stretched and underfunded that the Toronto Adult Congenital Cardiac Clinic (the largest in the world) can only see 40 per cent of its patients on an annual basis. The
We recently asked the Heart and Stroke Foundation to assist us with funding to help pay for a fellowship ($55,000 a year) to help ease the burden on the clinic, which would allow them more staff to treat the young adults "graduating" from the pediatric system. The answer is a firm "no." Sally Brown, CEO of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, wrote to me on March 6 this year stating: "Our mission is strongly focused on CVD (cardiovascular disease) prevention as opposed to care ... Congenital heart disease, while recognized as a very important health concern, is not a key area of focus at this time."
Congenital heart disease is the world's number one birth defect and yet the foundation chooses to ignore our problems simply because we were born with
them.
John MacEachern, President, Canadian Congenital Heart
