THANK YOU, LOCAL CANADIAN TIRE OWNERS, STAFF AND CUSTOMERS

Fix-A-Heart began in 2003 with former Langford Canadian Tire store owner Peter Spillette, a champion of cardiac care on Vancouver Island. When Peter passed away in 2008, Canadian Tire owners and staff honoured his vision with a $1 million commitment for leading-edge cardiac equipment at RJH. Five existing store owners, plus three past owners, have all contributed to this annual tradition that runs from November 24 to December 24.

From 2003 to 2020, the at-the-till initiative raised over $1 million for critical cardiac care equipment at RJH. In the past decade, the local Canadian Tire’s Fix-A-Heart campaign has helped fund 89 pieces of equipment for cardiac care, including: ECG machines, critical care beds, a Catheterization Lab C-Arm, Telemetry Monitors, and cardiac ultrasounds.

In 2021, the Hillside, Langford, View Royal, Royal Oak, and North Saanich Canadian Tire stores, as well as the Gordon Head Auto Centre, generously renewed their commitment to raise an additional $1 million for cardiac care at RJH over the next 10 years, with an annual goal of $100,000.

This year, funds raised will support a new C-Arm for RJH’s Heart Catheterization Lab. A C-Arm is a versatile, maneuverable machine that captures X-ray images of a patient’s heart and blood vessels in real-time. Heart catheterization is needed to see if a patient’s heart muscle, valves, or coronary arteries are diseased. The C-Arm assists care teams with patient diagnosis and treatment on the spot, reducing recovery times and side effects and improving the patient’s overall healthcare journey. The team in the Heart Catheterization Lab cares for patients undergoing diagnostic cardiac procedures, angioplasty, TAVI (transcatheter aortic valve implantation), and high-risk severe heart attack patients.