Pocono Medical Center Celebrates 200th Open Heart Surgery
The ESSA Heart & Vascular Institute at Pocono Medical Center (PMC), located in East Stroudsburg, PA, recently arrived at an incredible milestone by performing its 200th open-heart surgery.
The Heart & Vascular Institute, which only began performing heart surgeries in February 2007, has made monumental strides, says Nche Zama, MD, PhD, medical director of cardiovascular and thoracic Surgery at PMC.
“It is so gratifying to witness how the people of this community and this hospital rallied together to face the enormous challenges inherent in the development of a new cardiovascular program. Now, our region has access to cardiovascular care that is second to none,” Dr. Zama says.
Indeed, building such a program is no easy task, and Dr. Zama points out that the support of the community as well as the hospital’s staff and board of directors has been instrumental in its successful launch.
“Despite the seemingly insurmountable challenges associated with creating a new program,” Dr. Zama believes, “a concerted team approach and a vigilant eye on excellence is the secret to the wonderful outcomes that have been realized in the care of our first 200 heart surgery patients in the tenth month of the program’s inception.”
There are several exciting enhancements the program looks forward to in its second year of operation, including a state-of-art 64-slice CT scanner and a second cardiothoracic surgeon, Anne T. Cahill, MD (profiled below). “In 2008, we would also like to advance surgical care for select patients with ischemic cardiomyopathies,” says Dr. Zama.
Another goal of the program, according to Dr. Zama, is to “further advance and intensify” PMC’s clinical affiliation with the University of Pennsylvania Health System, whose contributions have been enormously valuable in the development of the program.
“We have enjoyed a wonderful relationship with the University of Pennsylvania Health System Penn Cardiac Care. We hope that this relationship will prosper so that we can keep providing the best possible cardiovascular care to the people in the Pocono community, Monroe County and the region at large,” he states.
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