By Michael Cortelli, MD

COVID-19 has strained hospital and healthcare worker resources worldwide. The United States has not experienced a pandemic of this magnitude in over 100 years. According to CDC statistics, as of August 2021, there have been almost 3 million hospitalizations over the previous 13 months in the U.S. alone. Despite this once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon, Memorial Healthcare System has risen to the challenge and has played a pivotal role in managing this crisis — from organizing and opening some of the early testing sites in South Florida, to accepting patients from other geographic locations because of the advanced therapies we offer.

Specifically, Memorial Cardiac and Vascular Institute and Critical Care Services at Memorial have been instrumental in providing the treatment necessary to care for those patients with advanced and aggressive diseases. This ranges from cardiac and vascular interventions in patients with acute thrombosis (i.e., acute myocardial infarctions, strokes and peripheral vascular thromboses) to providing advanced heart therapies to those who develop heart failure, while also providing mechanical circulatory support with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) for acute cardio-respiratory failure in infant, child and adult patients throughout the entire region. Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital and Memorial Regional Hospital are each designated Gold Level Centers of Excellence, receiving the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO) Award for Excellence in Life Support. ECMO is often our last line of treatment for the sickest of our COVID-19 patients.

At the same time, Memorial Cardiac and Vascular Institute has achieved many accomplishments.

• Our Adult Cardiac Surgery program continues to be a regional leader in volumes and high-quality outcomes.

• Memorial achieved the highest cardiac surgery volumes in the tri-county area during the third quarter of 2020 and has again earned a three-star rating, the highest category of quality, from The Society of Thoracic Surgeons for patient care and outcomes in coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), aortic valve replacement (AVR) and mitral valve replacement and repair (MVRR) for the period ending June 2021.

• Our Adult Heart Transplant program has completed its 75th heart transplant and is on track in 2021 to have the highest volume since inception.

• Our Heart Failure program has recruited a fourth specialty cardiologist to extend its reach in caring for advanced heart failure patients and was recently recognized for excellence with American College of Cardiology Heart Failure Accreditation.

Our structural heart team, a multidisciplinary team comprised of interventional cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, clinical cardiologists, imaging cardiologists, heart failure cardiologists and anesthesiologists, continues to grow and provide catheter-based therapies as they become available to treat structural heart problems such as valvular heart disease. Every case is reviewed by this group of specialists to chart the course of treatment for each patient.

The number of procedures performed in 2021 will be our highest ever, and our outcomes rank in the top decile nationally. Our Cardiology program matriculated its first class of cardiology fellows in July 2021 and looks forward to establishing its footprint on Graduate Medical Education and research. Our Vascular Surgery program has implemented a new technique of treating carotid artery disease in high-risk patients. Transcarotid Artery Revascularization (TCAR) is less invasive than conventional carotid endarterectomy and, hopefully, reduces the risk of stroke even further compared to conventional stenting and surgery.

Finally, our Electrophysiology program continues to be at the forefront of advances in electrophysiology treatments. Our expert electrophysiologists using our new EP suite are employing cutting edge, innovative approaches to control cardiac arrhythmias.

In addition to rising to the occasion and meeting the demands imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, Memorial Cardiac and Vascular Institute has continued to grow and be a leader in delivering the comprehensive and quality care to cardiovascular patients. Memorial is committed to ensuring our community and those further afield have access to quality management and treatment of cardiovascular illnesses. Memorial Cardiac and Vascular Institute has become a destination center for best practice care and world-class outcomes.

Dr. Michael Cortelli is Chief, Memorial Cardiac and Vascular Institute.