Adena Health System Celebrates 1,000th Open Heart Surgery
Adena Health System celebrated its 1,000th heart surgery on October 5 – a triple bypass that saved the life of 65 year-old, Ross County resident Bob Peters.
A week earlier, Bob had been experiencing chest pain. Even simple tasks like taking out the trash caused him to become tired with a loss of strength. Following a suggestion from his wife, Debbie, he came to Adena to visit Dr. Shashikant Patel, his regular cardiologist. At that time Bob was instructed to get a cardiac catheterization which was performed by Dr. Bruce Chen. Tests used to visualize the vessels revealed he had blockage in his coronary arteries up to 95 percent. After consulting with his doctors, a triple bypass surgery was conducted by Dr. Randall Miller that saved Bob’s life.
“I take the doctors at their word and it is a good thing I did,” said Bob. “They knew there was severe blockage and had they not done the full heart catheterization I wouldn’t be here today. I couldn’t have picked a better crew from the start of this process all the way through. Everyone we have been in contact with from the doctors to nurse to everyone involved has been phenomenal.”
Open heart surgery became available at Adena in 2006. Cardiothoracic surgeons Drs. Miller and Jack Baker came to the Health System and have built the open heart program into what it is today. Between the two of them, they have been involved in all 1,000 procedures at Adena. But both are very quick to credit all the various departments, units and caregivers involved in every step of the process for the level of quality and care Adena provides that has made this milestone possible.
“Adena Cardiology takes a team-based approach to our patient care,” said Dr. Miller. “From start to finish, there are so many caregivers involved throughout the entire Health System that affect the patient’s outcome and experience. This accomplishment is a credit to everyone and something the whole group can be proud of.”
He added, “You can look at this achievement as just caring for 1,000 patients, but also think about all the family members as well that come to Adena for a week or longer with them and what it means to everyone involved that there is quality cardiology care close to their homes. If we didn’t have this, people would be traveling long distances and in some cases you don’t have that kind of time.”
“The hospital and Board of Trustees have always been so supportive of our team’s efforts to get us to this point,” explained Dr. Baker. “In these situations, time is muscle, so it is valuable for our patients and their families that we can offer convenient care at the same level of quality as places in Columbus and other larger cities.”
“Today, Adena Health System has a thriving open heart program where achieving this impressive milestone reflects the high quality of cardiac care available to the communities we are privilege to serve throughout south central Ohio,” President & CEO Jeff Graham said. “It is also representative of the compassionate care provided by our physicians, nursing and caregivers.”
The Peters family has a long history of trusting Adena for their care. Bob jokes that Labor & Delivery is the only unit he hasn’t been on.
“We were very confident with doctors Miller and Baker,” explained Debbie. “Everyone told us that they were the best.”
Adena Health System offers a comprehensive Cardiac and Vascular program that includes Cardiac Surgery, Interventional Cardiology, Electrophysiology, Noninvasive Imagining, Preventive Cardiology and Cardiac Rehab. For more information, call 740-779-4570 or visit www.adena.org/heart.