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Heart and Stroke month: building on 50 years

No open-heart surgery, no hospital cardiac care units, and no comprehensive understanding of the heart-and-stroke hazards of smoking, physical inactivity, and poor diet - it was 1955. A group of doctors formed the B.C.

No open-heart surgery, no hospital cardiac care units, and no comprehensive understanding of the heart-and-stroke hazards of smoking, physical inactivity, and poor diet - it was 1955. A group of doctors formed the B.C. Heart Foundation, today called the Heart and Stroke Foundation of B.C. & Yukon.

The Foundation started with $25,500 in grants in early 1957 to B.C. heart researchers recognized as North American leaders.

Within five years, our annual research funding came to $66,225 in this province and $25,000 for national fellowships to young Canadian researchers - only a fraction of today's total of $5.6 million, but a lot in the 1960s.

Since then, the Foundation's research leadership has been consistent and significant, contributing to major advances like the first anti-clotting drugs and pacemaker implants. Our scientists continue to lead today.

We also started to educate the public and provide support to patients and their families in the 1960s. We have continued to focus on these areas and they have developed into award-winning programs that reach thousands of British Columbians.

Funding stroke research also began in the 1960s and stroke programs continued to develop throughout the following decades, although "Stroke" was not added to the Foundation's name until the 1990s.

Heart Sunday was our very first fundraiser where volunteers went door to door asking for donations. Heart Sunday evolved into our door-to-door campaign, which continues today. With the support of more than 12,000 volunteers in February this program now raises over a million dollars each year.

By adding new fundraising programs over the decades, and with the dedication of thousands of volunteers, our revenue has grown from $3,000 in 1956 to $14.5 million in 2004.

In the past 50 years, we have seen the death rate from heart disease and stroke cut in half. But they remain all too common.

One in three Canadians will die from heart disease, and stroke is the leading cause of adult disability. They must be eradicated.

The Foundation has been an unquestioned leader for half a century, breaking new ground in research, in the prevention of heart disease and stroke, and in helping those afflicted by these terrible conditions.

Today's board of directors is ensuring that this leadership continues, charting a new strategic vision that builds on our past successes.

As Robert Davies, a former executive director, declared: "The Foundation is really in the business of going out of business."

Before our second 50 years is out, we will make good on his word.

Dress Red Day for Heart & Stroke

Next Friday (Feb. 11) the Heart & Stroke Foundation hopes to paint Squamish red.

Dress Red Day is the Heart & Stroke Foundation's annual fundraiser. Pick up a button at one of several participating merchants in Squamish (including The Chief) for $5 and wear red on Friday to take part.

Anyone interested in more information can call Karen Vanzella at 604-898-5682. Funds go towards life saving stroke research and education programs, including the Stroke Recovery Association of B.C.

Heart-shaped pizzas support Heart & Stroke

Valentine's Day (Feb. 14) is a day to treat your sweetheart and help heart and stroke research.

Boston Pizza Squamish is serving heart-shaped pizzas and donating $1 from every heart-shaped pizza sold to the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada. Since 1993 Boston Pizza has raised more than $1.3 million for the Heart & Stroke Foundation with its heart-shaped pizza campaign.

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