Help Long Covid
patients get back
to their lives

See how a new CPET machine at Rockyview General Hospital can help patients struggling with Long Covid symptoms.

Your gift to Calgary Health Foundation will also support Long Covid treatment at Rockyview General Hospital:

	People who experience long-haul COVID symptoms		2nd largest hospital in Calgary
	The Centre of Excellence for CPET testing in Calgary		10 areas of care that include: acute, outpatient, critical care, surgical, medical, neonatal intensive care, mental health, seniors, women’s and emergency health services
	Two units dedicated to acute care geriatrics		One major urology and ophthalmology referral center

The number of patients requiring Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing (CPET) at Rockyview General Hospital has jumped by 71% over the last year, due to the emergence of Long Covid patients
CPET requires specially trained staff to complete the testing and specially trained physicians to correctly interpret the results
Rockyview General Hospital curated a group of specialized respirologists for CPET interpretation, creating a “CPET Service” that is unique to the hospital
Having the ability to create a database on patient data is the first step to developing research projects which will inform future standards of care for Long Covid patients
Data collection, made possible only with the newest CPET equipment and software, will enable the team at Rockyview General Hospital to perform research to understand the implications of Long COVID as well as the complexities of other conditions which CPET testing benefits
Patients recovering from COVID-19 need advanced diagnostics to inform personalized treatment and restore their health

Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing (CPET) is a non-invasive, comprehensive test to measure cardiac, pulmonary and metabolic systems using exercise.

Did you know that CPET can…

Provide information on exercise capacity, oxygen update and abnormal cardiac and pulmonary patterns by combining standard methods of cardiac (ECG) stress testing with additional indices of pulmonary gas exchange;
Provide direct measurement of oxygen uptake – this is the gold standard of aerobic capacity and the only test that does this;
Identify multiple cardiac and pulmonary diseases, to assess disease severity and help guide treatment plans and/or identify required surgical interventions needed;
Benefit patients with pulmonary hypertension, interstitial lung diseases that cause scarring on the lungs, chronic thromboembolic disease (or blood clots) and Long Covid Syndrome;
Be performed as part of a pre-operative risk assessment for critical lung cancer resection surgeries, assisting in determining the extent of surgical intervention that is possible;
Be performed as part of pre-heart of lung transplant triage assessment, trending of physical limitations pre and post-surgery, and assessment of patients’ healing process;
Assist in the functional assessment of patients with exercise intolerance
Assess airway related diseases such as exercise-induced bronchitis;