About the Episode

Come and listen to a story about how a group of talented experts have developed a credit card sized kit that can save people who are having a heart attack.

About half of adult Canadians have at least one risk factor for a heart attack; diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, smoking, family history over the age of 55. One third of those of Canadians who have a heart attack will die before they get to medical attention. James Stewart, an engineer, says he’s had “friends and relatives who have died of a heart attack. So that’s been my motivation right from the beginning. I’ve used to carry ASA and nitroglycerin in a baggie and I’ve carried this in my emergency kit for a long time. And it wasn’t until somebody who came with me on one of these snowmobiling excursions actually mentioned to me, ‘What are those pills you have in your emergency kit?’. And I said, ‘Well, that’s ASA and Nitroglycerin’. And the fellow was studying nursing at Grant McEwen College, and he told me that, ‘Hey, those nitroglycerin pills, they will have expired. And I said, ‘Well, what do you mean?’ He said, ‘Well, nitroglycerin reacts with air and light and layers itself on plastic and metal. So those pills you’re packing probably hold no potency’.”

Stewart did some research and learned that this was all true. He needed to invent a packaging that would be stable so as to ensure that the medication remains stable for a long period of time.Stewart called up his friend, a renowned oncologist, Dr. John Mackey and the idea resonated with him too. Together, Stewart and Mackey came up with the idea of a heart attack card called SmHeartCard. It is a credit-card sized pill holder designed to save the lives of people who are having a heart attack. It holds 4ASA (81mg) and 3 Nitroglycerin (0.3 mg) pills, the standard medications given for the initial treatment of heart attack and angina.With the help of Dr. Neil Davies, a pharmacist who did the testing of the heart attack card, they proved that the pills can be stored safely for six months in the heart attack card.

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