Elevating cardiovascular care for our community

When you have a problem with your heart, you want to be treated at a facility that offers advanced heart and blood vessel (cardiovascular) procedures and some of the region’s best doctors. You’ll find all of that—and more—at Nazareth Hospital.

Here are four recent developments at Nazareth that highlight our commitment to outstanding cardiovascular care:

We’ve been honored for excellence. Nazareth has earned a Service Line of Excellence designation from Corazon, Inc., for three key cardiovascular programs. Ours is the first hospital in the Philadelphia region to earn this triple honor. It shows that Nazareth provides care that meets high national standards for:

• Emergency heart attack treatments. People having a heart attack are quickly taken from the Emergency Department to Nazareth’s special cardiac catheterization lab for angioplasty treatment to open blocked arteries and restore lifesaving blood flow to the heart.
• Chest pain treatments. Nazareth is a nationally accredited chest pain center, which means it has the expertise to evaluate and treat patients who arrive with chest pain that could be a heart attack.
• Electrophysiology treatments. This program focuses on correcting arrhythmias (irregular heartbeats) and other problems involving the electrical system in the heart.

High-tech hybrid OR opens this winter. This “hybrid” facility will allow patients to receive a catheter-based treatment or a vascular surgery in the same room, even during the same procedure. One example is a treatment that restores blood flow in blocked arteries in the legs. The room is equipped with advanced imaging tools, including a heart-mapping system.

Patients have easier access to heart surgeries. Nazareth does not perform open-heart surgeries at this time. But people who need the procedure will have it done at St. Mary Medical Center in Langhorne (part of Trinity Health Mid-Atlantic, and a leader in heart and vascular care). This also allows them to see their doctor close to home, at Nazareth, for their pre- and post-surgery care. They can also get much of their pre-surgery testing done at Nazareth. “The greatest advantage is continuity of care,” says Deon Vigilance, MD, a cardiothoracic surgeon at Nazareth and St. Mary. “The surgeon who sees you before your operation can see you after your surgery at a location that is familiar to you.”

Fellowship program receives overwhelming response. Nazareth is home to a fellowship program that trains the next wave of heart doctors.

Cardiovascular fellowships are very competitive, Sunil Dhar, MD, says. He’s the medical director of the fellowship program.

“We started with two fellowships in July,” Dr. Dhar says. “We have started the application process for next year, and we’ve already had 800 applications for two spots.”