MDNews - Long Island

inser ting corona r y stents to open the blocked a r ter y. Before this, patients would have to be transferred to tertiary ca re hospita ls to receive their stents, t hereby losing precious, potentia l ly lifesaving time." In 2001 Good Sa ma rita n Hospita l wa s one of t he f irst faci lities in t he state approved to pa r ticipate in a pilot prog ra m a l low i n g it s t ea m to t reat hea r t at tack patients instead of just d ia g nosi n g a nd t ra n sfer r i n g t hem . The resu lts shif ted t he pa radig m of inter ventiona l ca rdiolog y ca re in our community, a nd sur viva l rates spiked. "A f ter the pilot prog ra m's success, inter ventiona l ca rdiolog y prog ra ms across t he st ate were g iven t he a l l- clea r to beg in helping these patients," Dr. Deut sch says. " We a re proud of t he role G ood Sa m a r it a n Hospit a l played i n set ti n g t he new st a nda rd for my o c a r d i a l i n f a r c t ion pa t ient ca re. Establishing the inter ventiona l cardiolog y program was rea lly the first step in creating t he comprehensive ca rdiolog y prog ra m for which we a re wel l-k now n today. We have treated nea rly 1, 50 0 pat ient s ex per ienci n g a cut e hea r t at t a ck s si nce t he pi lot prog ra m launched." There are three cardiac catheteriza- tion laborator ies at t he hospit a l, i n which the team uses tiny catheters and state-of-the-a r t ima g ing to identif y a nd treat blockages a nd other ca rdiac concerns, restoring blood f low to the hea r t . Inter ventiona l ca rd iolog y at Good Samaritan Hospita l is a complete prog ra m, offering corona r y stenting, atherectomy, cardiac device implanta- tion a nd ma nagement, as well as other diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. OPEN-HEART IN WEST ISLIP A member of Catholic Hea lth Ser vices, Good Sa ma rita n Hospita l is a sister hospita l of fel low New York institu- t ion St . Fra nci s Hospit a l , wh ich i s consistently recog nized by U. S . News & World Report as home to one of the top heart institutes in the countr y, The Hea r t Center. "For yea rs, St. Fra ncis Hospita l has been helping patients from Suffolk and Na ssau counties w it h t heir ca rdiac needs, especia l ly when they require open-hea r t surger y," says Christopher La Mendola, MD, FA PF, FA PC, Chair of Ca rdiothoracic Surger y a nd Director of the St. Francis Hospita l Open-Heart Surger y Prog ra m at Good Sa ma rita n Hospita l. " Tra f f ic on the isla nd ca n make travel to Roslyn especially stress- ful for patients who require open-heart surger y a nd t hei r loved ones, so we extended the reach of our program. We had a lready established a working rela- tionship between St. Fra ncis Hospita l a nd Good Sa ma rita n Hospita l. It was on ly nat u ra l t hat we work toget her to create a n open-hea r t prog ra m on Long Isla nd to ser ve our patients in this a rea ." So bega n the process of replicating S t . F r a nci s Hospit a l's world- cl a s s open-heart program in the halls of Good Samaritan Hospita l, a stepwise process that was implemented over the course of severa l years to ensure optimization. Pa r ts of the four th a nd f if th f loors at Good Sa ma rita n Hospita l Medica l Center were completely renovated and rebuilt, adding two open-heart surger y operating rooms a nd a n adjoining ca r- diac ICU, for a centra lized prog ra m location within the hospita l that helps ma inta in a simple a nd strea m lined patient experience. St. Francis Hospital physicia ns, nurses, a nesthesiolog ists a nd other medica l professiona ls ma n the St. Fra ncis Hospita l Open Hea r t Surger y Prog ra m at Good Sa ma rita n Hospita l, creating sea m less deliver y of ca re. " We d id n't wa nt t he pa r t nersh ip between St. Francis Hospita l and Good The average time it takes for a patient who is admitted to the Emergency Department at Good Samaritan Hospital to go from the door to receiving a potentially lifesaving procedure via cath - eterization in the interventional cardiology laboratory to clear a blockage — also known as door- to-balloon time — is 68 minutes. 0 8❱❱❱❱❱ C O V E R S T O R Y At Good Samaritan, open-heart surgeons work in conjunction with noninvasive and invasive cardiologists to determine the best course of treatment for the patient. Cardiothoracic surgeons Dr. La Mendola and Dr. Rovensky discuss a potential open-heart surgery candidate's catheterization results to determine if surgery is necessary. Shown here are Ezra Deutsch, MD, Director of Interventional Cardiology and the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at Good Samaritan Hospital, and the team at Good Samaritan's Theresa Patnode Santmann Division of Cardiovascular Services performing a cardiac catheterization in the hospital's new advanced lab. 0 8

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