In December, just before the holidays, Northwest Medical Center received approval from the State of Florida to perform primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) on patients having a heart attack, one of very few hospitals in the entire State of Florida without an open heart program to be approved for this procedure.
In the long months preparing for this, the Cath Lab and I.C.U. staff underwent rigorous, hands-on training at Open Heart HCA sister-facilities Westside Regional Medical Center and JFK Medical Center. “We could not have received this approval without the assistance of our two sister-facilities JKF and Westside, and particularly their cardiac cath lab staff, who were instrumental in helping us achieve this designation” stated Rick Kennedy, CEO at Northwest Medical Center.
(l-r) Dr. Eduardo Sabates, Interventional Cardiologist; Laurie Siggins, R.N., Director of Cardiac Services; Joanne Moreen, R.N.; Brenda Reid, R.N.; Sandra Vujanic, R.N.; Yolanda Widel, R.N.; Eleanor Isaac, R.N.; Dr. Mazhar Majid, Interventional Cardiologist.
Fast forward to Saturday, December 15, a week before Christmas, and Northwest gets their first Code Heart patient, a 50 year old male from Coral Springs. His wife was with him when the heart attack happened and she knew exactly what was going on: She just happens to be a nurse in the CV ICU at Westside Regional Medical Center! The very same CV ICU who was instrumental in helping achieve the designation.
Patient had severe blockage of the right coronary which was almost complete occluded. Upon arrival he coded in the ER, Dr. Wallace did not give up and worked on him until he was stable enough to be taken to the cardiac cath where the team led by Dr. Eduardo Sabates was waiting. His life was saved because Northwest as able to receive and treat him, and EMS did not have to bypass this facility to take him further to an open heart hospital. According to the team, he would have never made it in the ambulance.
“This is a great accomplishment for our facility and for the multidisciplinary team that lead us to this great outcome” stated Rick Kennedy, Chief Executive Officer. “I would be remiss if I didnt underscore the unwavering commitment of two physicians: Dr. Eduardo Sabates, Medical Director and Dr. Mazhar Majid, both interventional cardiologists, whose commitment from beginning to end played a critical and fundamental part of the approval process” added Kennedy.
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