Baby Arlo is alive today because of medical advances applied by B.C. Children’s Hospital cardiac surgeon Mohammed Al Aklabi
Baby Arlo’s uphill battle for survival began in the early months of his mother’s pregnancy, when an ultrasound revealed the tiny fetus had a potentially fatal heart defect.
“The picture that was painted for us when Arlo was still inside was very bleak,” said his mother, Leanne Epp.
“It wasn’t looking good for him. It’s bad when they’re suggesting abortion or termination because they don’t think that it will go well.”
Arlo’s condition at birth was “very complex” and there was talk, at first, that little could be done to help him, said Dr. Mohammed Al Aklabi, the hospital’s head of cardiac surgery.
“But I think we pushed the limits. We gave him a chance,” said Al Aklabi, who performed Arlo’s open-heart surgery. “And his heart is almost like normal now.”
Al Aklabi joined B.C. Children’s in 2022, and since then has re-invigorated the hospital’s cardiac surgery program and the delivery of complex surgeries to infants with congenital heart conditions, the Provincial Heath Services Authority says. “He has enabled the delivery of surgical repairs to certain patients where previously there was thought to be no surgical pathway forward. The outcomes have been life-changing for families,” said Dr. Erik Skarsgard, surgeon-in-chief at the hospital.
West Coast Table
Getting to this point, though, was a hellish journey for Arlo’s parents.
Epp, who lives in Agassiz with her husband and two sons, stayed at Ronald McDonald House to be close to the hospital for the last two months of her pregnancy. Arlo was born in April with pulmonary atresia with ventricular septal defect, which means the valve that allows blood to flow from the heart to the lungs was not fully developed, and there was a major hole in the heart.
Arlo’s case was also complicated by major aortopulmonary collateral arteries, little interlopers that grow on the main aorta to try to make up for missing blood vessels to the lungs.
“It was devastating. One of the worst feelings is coming into the hospital with your sick baby, not knowing if you’ll be able to come out,” she recalled.
The team made a new artery for Arlo’s lungs, gave him a new valve for his heart, and closed the hole in his heart, Al Aklabi said.
“This child was actually not meant to survive the surgery, or anything, but this is one example of a success story,” added Al Aklabi, who works as a pediatric cardiac surgeon in both Vancouver and Edmonton.
He estimated B.C. Children’s cardiac surgeons operated on 500 children over the last two years, and 40 of those were extremely complex cases. Previously, he said, those 40 children would have had low chances of survival, or would have lived with significant challenges.
Part of the reason for his department’s success, he said, is collaboration with experts in other children’s hospitals, such as in Edmonton, and technological advancements, like the use of 3D ultrasound images to better diagnose defects.
B.C. Children’s has not been immune to the challenges facing hospitals across Canada. It still has lengthy waiting lists for surgeries, a result of many procedures being cancelled during the pandemic, said Skarsgard.
Staffing in the medical system has also been a struggle, and the hospital still has unfilled nursing positions it is “working desperately hard to fill.” It has hired a third cardiac surgeon and is being “creative about scheduling” to maximize access to specialists, such as anesthesiologists, he added.
“We’re really doing everything that we can to optimize the experience of families who are waiting and have serious concerns about their child needing heart surgery,” Skarsgard said.
In the coming years, Arlo will require more surgeries because the artificial conduit connecting his heart and lungs will need to be lengthened as he grows. Epp hopes those operations will be shorter and easier than his first open-heart surgery, when the parents were warned it might not be “the best case scenario” for Arlo.
“But Dr. Al Aklabi pulled it off and it was amazing results. Everybody was surprised — Arlo has put everyone through the ringer here,” Epp said.
“They saved my baby’s life. We are forever indebted.”
HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government says it could be months before it reveals how many people are on the wait-list for a family doctor.
The head of the province’s health authority told reporters Wednesday that the government won’t release updated data until the 160,000 people who were on the wait-list in June are contacted to verify whether they still need primary care.
Karen Oldfield said Nova Scotia Health is working on validating the primary care wait-list data before posting new numbers, and that work may take a matter of months. The most recent public wait-list figures are from June 1, when 160,234 people, or about 16 per cent of the population, were on it.
“It’s going to take time to make 160,000 calls,” Oldfield said. “We are not talking weeks, we are talking months.”
The interim CEO and president of Nova Scotia Health said people on the list are being asked where they live, whether they still need a family doctor, and to give an update on their health.
A spokesperson with the province’s Health Department says the government and its health authority are “working hard” to turn the wait-list registry into a useful tool, adding that the data will be shared once it is validated.
Nova Scotia’s NDP are calling on Premier Tim Houston to immediately release statistics on how many people are looking for a family doctor. On Tuesday, the NDP introduced a bill that would require the health minister to make the number public every month.
“It is unacceptable for the list to be more than three months out of date,” NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Tuesday.
Chender said releasing this data regularly is vital so Nova Scotians can track the government’s progress on its main 2021 campaign promise: fixing health care.
The number of people in need of a family doctor has more than doubled between the 2021 summer election campaign and June 2024. Since September 2021 about 300 doctors have been added to the provincial health system, the Health Department said.
“We’ll know if Tim Houston is keeping his 2021 election promise to fix health care when Nova Scotians are attached to primary care,” Chender said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador‘s chief medical officer is monitoring the rise of whooping cough infections across the province as cases of the highly contagious disease continue to grow across Canada.
Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says that so far this year, the province has recorded 230 confirmed cases of the vaccine-preventable respiratory tract infection, also known as pertussis.
Late last month, Quebec reported more than 11,000 cases during the same time period, while Ontario counted 470 cases, well above the five-year average of 98. In Quebec, the majority of patients are between the ages of 10 and 14.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick has declared a whooping cough outbreak across the province. A total of 141 cases were reported by last month, exceeding the five-year average of 34.
The disease can lead to severe complications among vulnerable populations including infants, who are at the highest risk of suffering from complications like pneumonia and seizures. Symptoms may start with a runny nose, mild fever and cough, then progress to severe coughing accompanied by a distinctive “whooping” sound during inhalation.
“The public, especially pregnant people and those in close contact with infants, are encouraged to be aware of symptoms related to pertussis and to ensure vaccinations are up to date,” Newfoundland and Labrador’s Health Department said in a statement.
Whooping cough can be treated with antibiotics, but vaccination is the most effective way to control the spread of the disease. As a result, the province has expanded immunization efforts this school year. While booster doses are already offered in Grade 9, the vaccine is now being offered to Grade 8 students as well.
Public health officials say whooping cough is a cyclical disease that increases every two to five or six years.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick’s acting chief medical officer of health expects the current case count to get worse before tapering off.
A rise in whooping cough cases has also been reported in the United States and elsewhere. The Pan American Health Organization issued an alert in July encouraging countries to ramp up their surveillance and vaccination coverage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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