Heart Valve Voice Canada

08/06/2026

If you've been diagnosed with heart valve disease, it’s important to understand your treatment options. 💙

Different treatments have different considerations related to recovery, lifestyle, and long-term follow-up. The best decision is one you make together with your care team, based on what your team recommends and what matters most to you.

That's called shared decision-making. Our website offers free patient resources to help you walk into that conversation feeling prepared. You’ll find:
🎥 A webinar on shared decision-making
📖 A patient guide
📋 A one-page patient checklist you can print and bring with you

👉 Tap reports and resources, and scroll to the shared decision-making section: https://www.heartvalvevoice.ca/en/reports-resources/

From pre-diagnosis through treatment and recovery, we connect you to the information & resources you need on your journey with heart valve disease.

08/04/2026

Without clinical research, medical innovation stops. New medicines, devices and treatments all depend on trials—and on the patients who take part in them.

As part of our affiliation with the Global Heart Hub, an international alliance of patient organizations, Heart Valve Voice Canada is proud to share a user-friendly Clinical Research Portal, tailored to feature cardiovascular trials available by country, including Canada.

For clinicians and patients alike, it’s a practical way to see what research is underway, and where patients may be able to contribute.

👉 Explore the portal: https://www.heartvalvevoice.ca/en/clinical-research

From pre-diagnosis through treatment and recovery, we connect you to the information & resources you need on your journey with heart valve disease.

07/30/2026

Ever wonder why your healthcare provider presses a cold stethoscope to your chest and listens for a few seconds? 🩺
They’re listening for a heart murmur—an unusual sound as blood moves through your heart valves. It’s often the very first clue of heart valve disease, sometimes years before you’d feel a single symptom.

That moment is one of the simplest, most powerful tools in early detection. Here’s why it matters:
💙 Valve disease can be asymptomatic—many people feel fine well into the advanced stages.
⏱️ Catching it early means more—and less invasive—treatment options.
So next time, you’ll know: it’s not just routine. It might save your life.

👉 If you’re 60+, ask your provider to listen to your heart. Learn more at heartvalvevoice.ca

From pre-diagnosis through treatment and recovery, we connect you to the information & resources you need on your journey with heart valve disease.

07/24/2026

Self-care isn’t only good sleep, regular exercise and balanced eating. Sometimes the most important thing you can do for yourself is ask a healthcare provider to listen to your heart. 🩺

Today is International Self-Care Day—marked on 7/24 because your health matters 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Real self-care means tuning in to your body and following up when something feels off.

For Canadians 60+, one of the simplest acts of self-care is asking a healthcare provider for a stethoscope check. Listening for a heart murmur is how heart valve disease is first detected—often before any symptoms appear.

Watch Bill share how this saved and improved his life. 👇

👉 Learn more at heartvalvevoice.ca

07/21/2026

Who better to understand what you need to hear on your valve disease journey than patients who’ve been through it? 💙

We asked Canadians living with valve disease what they wish they'd known. Their patient-to-patient advice is worth saving:
🩺 Keep up with primary care. "Have regular physicals, including a stethoscope exam. Usually it's normal—but if it isn't, you want to catch it before valve disease gets bad." —Cole Moro, valve replacement at 27
💪 Be persistent. "If you think something's wrong, keep asking for answers. Don't give up." —Dianne Galbraith
🤝 Make a post-surgery plan—especially if you live alone. "You need people you love and trust with you in the beginning." —Pam Husband
❤️‍🩹 Take advantage of cardiac rehab. "Most people are anxious at first; the program offers education that's reassuring." —Dean Snow
📋 Track your health with benchmarks. "Note your normal blood pressure and oxygen levels, so you notice when something's off." —Mark Parry

Behind every tip is a Canadian patient with a story worth reading.

👉 Meet the patients and read their full journeys: https://www.heartvalvevoice.ca/en/patient-stories

From pre-diagnosis through treatment and recovery, we connect you to the information & resources you need on your journey with heart valve disease.

07/17/2026

It’s one of the most common—and most serious—heart valve conditions in Canada. Yet only about 3% of Canadians over 60 have heard of it.

It’s aortic stenosis: a narrowing of the heart’s aortic valve that makes the heart work harder to push blood through.

It often develops slowly, with symptoms —breathlessness, fatigue, dizziness, chest pain—that are easy to mistake for aging.

Sometimes, aortic stenosis can have no noticeable symptoms.
Left untreated, severe aortic stenosis can be life-threatening.

The good news is it’s treatable.

👉 If you’re 60+, ask a healthcare provider to listen to your heart. Learn more about aortic stenosis: https://www.heartvalvevoice.ca/en/aortic-stenosis

07/16/2026

Eleanor’s advice? Don’t ignore shortness of breath.

Eleanor was walking on flat ground near Jasper when she suddenly had to stop to catch her breath.

For years, she’d blamed her breathlessness on being out of shape. A faint murmur, caught with a stethoscope years earlier, had revealed mild aortic stenosis. By the time it turned severe, she needed a new valve.

Today, at 73 and more than four years after her valve replacement, Eleanor is back to her full life: aquafit three times a week, daily walks, and keeping up with her grandkids.

👉 Read Eleanor’s story: https://www.heartvalvevoice.ca/en/patient-stories-collection/getting-her-breath-back

From pre-diagnosis through treatment and recovery, we connect you to the information & resources you need on your journey with heart valve disease.

07/09/2026

If you’re suddenly winded on a walk or slowing down on the golf course, it’s easy to blame the heat or your age. Sometimes it’s neither.

New or worsening shortness of breath, fatigue and dizziness are easy to wave off in busy summer months. But they can also be signs of heart valve disease—a common condition that’s too often mistaken for “just getting older.”

💙 The good news: valve disease is serious but treatable, especially when it’s detected early.

🩺 The first step is simple: ask a healthcare provider to listen to your heart with a stethoscope, especially if you’re 60+.

If something feels off this summer, don’t brush it aside.

👉 Know the symptoms: it could save your life https://www.heartvalvevoice.ca/en/patient-journey/overview

Learn more about detection, diagnosis, treatment and recovery from heart valve disease.

07/07/2026

Please join us in congratulating Heart Valve Voice Canada board member Dr. Janine Eckstein, who just earned her Global Executive MBA for Healthcare and Life Science from the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. 🎓

An Interventional Cardiologist at the University of Saskatchewan, Dr. Eckstein brings deep clinical insight to our board along with a track record for turning advocacy into access.

She helped introduce two minimally invasive treatments for valve patients at the Royal University Hospital (Saskatchewan Health Authority): the Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) and Transcatheter Edge to Edge Repair (TEER) programs, expanding treatment access for patients closer to home.

She also serves with the Saskatchewan Heart & Stroke Foundation, as Vice President of the Canadian Association of Interventional Cardiology, and as Co-chair of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society Heart Valve Disease Working Group.

Thank you, Dr. Eckstein, for supporting our mission to improve awareness, early detection and health outcomes for Canadians with heart valve disease.

06/29/2026

Len Crispino managed to see meaningful silver linings in his patient journey through two treatments for heart valve disease, two cancers, kidney disease and other chronic conditions.

His experiences have helped him gain hard-won wisdom on how to:
💙 Advocate for holistic patient care
💙 Work with multiple doctors on collaborative care conversations
💙 Partner with researchers to ensure patient voices are engaged, heard and counted.

Len is a valued Heart Valve Voice Canada board member and partner in numerous medical research studies.

Read his story to learn what he's discovered about staying hopeful, advocating for yourself and working alongside your healthcare team.

👉 https://www.heartvalvevoice.ca/en/patient-stories-collection/9q0f0hqgl7t7kqm6preyx1h87k77r9

Len Crispino is advocating for change to better address the issues patients face.