![](\"https:\/\/i.cbc.ca\/1.4549669.1519420080!\/fileImage\/httpImage\/image.jpeg_gen\/derivatives\/16x9_780\/roland-lafond-on-cfi-closure.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n(February 23, 2018)<\/p>\n
By: Andrew Lupton, CBC News<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The fight to save the Cardiac Fitness Institute at Victoria Hospital is increasingly drawing attention from Queen’s Park politicians with\u00a0a June 7 election looming.<\/p>\n
A group of patients gathered outside the grounds of Victoria Hospital Friday to oppose a plan to close down CFI, which many credit with saving their lives after they recovered from heart attacks and surgeries.<\/p>\n
Roland\u00a0Lafond was one of a handful of\u00a0CFI\u00a0patients who spoke.<\/p>\n Lafond, 78, suffered a heart attack back in 1989. He said the post-operative care he received at CFI\u00a0“kept me alive.”<\/p>\n “I’m still going, and I still work,” he said.<\/p>\n CFI\u00a0provides patients not only a place to exercise, but years of ongoing support and counselling on the fundamentals of heart-healthy diet and fitness.<\/p>\n “You constantly had guidance and camaraderie,” said Lafond. “If you had a question, if you had to figure something out, you had it worked out. Some of the things I learned there, I still do to this day.”<\/p>\n CFI\u00a0patients spoke passionately about a program that taught them how to change their lifestyle and manage medication so they could stay healthy for years and avoid another heart attack or surgery.<\/p>\n But it wasn’t just patients who showed up. The London branch of the Ontario Health Coalition organized Friday’s news conference and two local MPPs\u00a0also attended.<\/p>\n If CFI closes,\u00a0patients recovering from a major cardiac event will be treated at the Rehabilitation and Secondary Prevention (CRSP) program at St. Joseph’s Health Care. But it only provides six months of care while CFI\u00a0patients can return for care and advice as long as they need it.<\/p>\n Two local MPPs: Peggy Sattler\u00a0(London West,NDP ) and Jeff Yurek\u00a0(Elgin\u2014Middlesex\u2014London, PC) spoke at Friday’s news conference.<\/p>\n Liberal London North Centre MPP\u00a0Deb Matthews was asked about the CFI\u00a0closure at a separate\u00a0event earlier Friday.<\/p>\n She said\u00a0CFI exceeds the provincial standard of six months of care after a major cardiac event. The program at Victoria Hospital is part of the London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC)\u00a0network.<\/p>\n “We have a provincial standard,” said Matthews. “This was something that LHSC\u00a0funded over and above the provincial evidence-based standard. This is a decision LHSC\u00a0had to make.”<\/p>\n