June 28, 2023 

Thanks to donors, cardiac and respiratory patients and staff at St. Boniface Hospital are benefitting from safer and more accurate testing, greater availability of testing, and improved clinical care. 

Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing (CPET) equipment measures how a person’s lungs, heart, blood vessels, and muscles perform during an exercise challenge. 

From left: Karen Fowler, President & CEO, St. Boniface Hospital Foundation; Dr. David Christiansen, the Pulmonary Function Lab’s Medical Director; Salem Woodrow, Manager, Media Relations and Community Affairs, CPKC; Kelly McMullan, Major Gifts Fundraiser, St. Boniface Hospital Foundation.

Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) was instrumental in funding new CPET equipment. The company donated $50,000 to double the impact of new monthly donors to St. Boniface Hospital Foundation during a special campaign.  

“CPKC is proud to support the St. Boniface Hospital and contribute to the purchase of equipment that will help patients in Winnipeg,” said Salem Woodrow, Manager, Media Relations and Community Affairs, CPKC. 

Safer testing on a stationary cycle

St. Boniface patients with heart disease, heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pulmonary hypertension, and other serious conditions are now undergoing CPET on a stationary bicycle. This form of exercise is broadly considered safe and appropriate for a wide range of patients. 

“With this equipment, we can measure with exquisite sensitivity how much oxygen your body is able to consume” said Dr. David Christiansen, a respirologist and the Pulmonary Function Lab’s Medical Director. “And that’s really the gold standard for someone’s aerobic capacity.”  

The equipment integrates a blood-pressure monitor, an electrocardiogram monitor, pulse oximeter, and finally, the sort of mask in use for NHL training camp fitness testing. 

“Not only are we measuring a patient’s exercise capacity, but we can use the equipment to figure out what organ system is not working when that patient has symptoms,” said Christiansen.  

“Is it a problem with the heart? Or the lungs? Or the lung blood vessels? Is it blood pressure or another bodily system? We want to recreate their symptoms in a controlled environment and see what’s happening to the patient at that moment and be able to tell them what the problem is and what the treatment target is.” 

Among the new equipment’s advantages, it enables a single respiratory therapist to conduct CPET, thus expanding testing availability. Improved software and physician inputs promote standardized testing protocols and reporting formats, leading to improvements in clinical decisions.  

All of this means improved care for patients with heart, lung and other conditions. 

“We’re very happy to have this equipment in place,” said Christiansen. 

When you give, St. Boniface patients benefit from improved clinical care. Donate today.