There's never been a more important time for Illawarra residents to pay attention to their heart, according to a leading heart doctor, with more patients arriving at hospital with serious cardiovascular disease.
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Dr Astin Lee, the director of cardiac services at the Illawarra Shoalhaven health district, said the past few years meant many people had put off their usual preventative health checks.
"During the pandemic, a lot of people have put off seeing their doctors or there was a fear of attending medical institutions because of COVID," he said.
"And what we are finding now is that we are playing a lot of catch-up.
"Patients are presenting really sick with cardiovascular disease or they have put up with their symptoms or their risk factors for much longer than they should have."
"By the time they get to us, they are in a much worse state than they would have been 24 months ago."
As part of Heart Week, which runs from May 1-7, Dr Lee said he wanted people to pause and reflect on their health, as cardiovascular disease remains one of Australia's biggest killers.
"One Australian will suffer from a heart attack or a stroke every four minutes," he said.
"And therefore the main message from me is to know your risk, and that includes seeing your general practitioner regularly."
"There are silent diseases such as high blood pressure, high sugar levels leading to diabetes and high cholesterol that don't always cause symptoms but significantly elevate your risk of cardiac disease."
He also highlighted that the public system was now better equipped to help treat patients, thanks to a recently completed renovation at Wollongong Hospital.
Finished about four weeks ago, the works moved the cardiology ward closer to the diagnostics unit, meaning procedures are now carried next to where patients recover.
"That streamlines the workflow and enhances patient safety because you are obviously closer to where the doctors are operating, and it's a shorter transit for patients from the ward to the diagnostic unit to have their procedures performed," Dr Lee said.
"Nurses are always near their patients, as opposed to being in the central nursing station of the old ward, so it's safer for patient care because the nurses are always right there."
Also as part of the renovations, four recovery bays were added into the diagnostics unit, allowing doctors to treat more patients each day.
"Prior to the refurbishment, the bottleneck was always the recovery area because you can only have so many patients in recovery, so we can get you four extra patients through our suites daily and that's a significant increase," Dr Lee said.
The cardiac services renovation was part of a hospital tour given to Premier Chris Minns in his first visit to the Illawarra, when Dr Lee spoke to him about the need for continued investment.
"It's important that that service continues to develop and be supported by the ministry and the government because Wollongong Hospital is the tertiary referral center for cardiology for the district, for a large area and a large population," he said.
"The projected population growth in our LHD is, in fact, higher than in Sydney, so this needs to keep pace."
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Kate McIlwain
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
