The Garden City Telegram
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Heart help
Published 7/4/2009 in Commentary : Editorial
Time is everything for someone suffering a heart attack.
But when such medical emergencies occur in rural settings, patients often must be flown elsewhere for care. Too often, time isn't on their side.
Now, residents of Garden City and the area can rest a bit easier knowing more cardiovascular care will be available starting Monday at the new Heart Center at St. Catherine Hospital.
The new heart center is the combined effort of St. Catherine Hospital and Wichita-based Kansas Heart Hospital and Cardiovascular Consultants of Kansas -- entities that have had a strong relationship for years, with Cardiovascular Consultants providing cardiology clinics and services to St. Catherine Hospital since 1984, and Kansas Heart Hospital receiving its first patient from St. Catherine Hospital in 1999.
Now, with the arrival of interventional cardiologist Dr. John Ferrell, the Heart Center at St. Catherine Hospital will be able to meet more needs of heart patients locally by providing cardiac catheterizations, angioplasty, stent placement, echocardiograms, pacemakers and treatment of various cardiac diseases.
Having a local cardiologist providing heart-care services not previously available here will stem the flow of patients transferred from Garden City to Wichita for those procedures -- a huge relief considering the stress and expense of heading out of town for care.
The local cardiac care center also promises to go a long way in improving St. Catherine's position as a regional health-care destination, delivering an economic boost through more visiting patients and their families.
Most importantly, knowing a cardiologist is available for front-line attention is another level of security that may be taken for granted in bigger cities, but is a dream come true in Garden City.
Creation of the Heart Center at St. Catherine Hospital is a good example of how relationships between big-city and rural health-care providers can make medical care more accessible to residents in rural areas. That's critical in many parts of southwest Kansas that have been underserved.
This region certainly isn't immune to the threat of heart disease, a leading killer of adults. Give credit to those involved in the new heart center for working together to give local heart patients the timely care and attention they need.
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