Cardiac care fundraiser returns to Red Deer

Time is Muscle — a cardiac care awareness dinner and show — will return for its second year on Jan. 19 at Sheraton Red Deer.

Organized in partnership with the Red Deer Regional Health Foundation, the 2018 event sold out and raised $12,000.

Vanessa Higgins-Nogareda, a volunteer and one of the event's directors, said selling all 400 tickets for the 2019 dinner and show would bring in another $12,000, plus more with the proceeds from a silent auction, raffles, art gallery sale and other donations.

She said the event has been moved to a larger venue after its success in 2018 to raise funds to enhance cardiac care at the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre and to raise awareness of the need for a cardiac catheterization lab and hospital expansion.

Cardiac catheterization, also known as angioplasty, is a procedure to unblock coronary arteries that feed the heart in the event of a heart attack.

Without access to a local lab, and the long transfer times for the treatment elsewhere, doctors say Central Albertans have a 60 per cent higher rate of death or disability than people in Calgary or Edmonton.

Tickets are $80 each until Dec. 31, and $90 after, for the heart-themed, three-course plated dinner and retro rock and roll party with The Heartbeats Band.

Tickets are available by calling 403-343-4773, in person at Red Deer Regional Health Foundation at the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre, or online at http://weblink.donorperfect.com/TimeIsMuscle2019.

People are asked to wear red to show their support for cardiac care.