Just a Heartbeat Away

Just-Heartbeat-Away-1Considered a “heart hospital within a hospital,” the Center for Cardiovascular Medicine is located on the first floor of the new Porter Regional Hospital and provides advanced cardiovascular medicine in one centralized location.

The Center was designed to provide comprehensive evaluation, consultation, and medical and surgical management of diseases of the heart and circulatory system for the region’s growing population. It includes private cardiac rooms, all private pre- and post-op recovery rooms, four cardiac catheterization and electrophysiology labs, with the opportunity to add two future cardiac catheterization labs. The Center also has 38 cardiac-monitored private rooms on the Intermediate Care Unit as well as its Heart Failure Program, Heart Valve Center, Anticoagulation Clinic and comprehensive diagnostic and noninvasive cardiology services.

Just-Heartbeat-Away-2Just-Heartbeat-Away-3Diagnostics
The diagnostic wing of the Center has separate testing rooms for patients requiring an echocardiogram, stress test, electroencephalogram (EEG), trans esophageal echocardiogram (TEE) or other diagnostic procedures. Performed by a team of cardiac nurses, technologists and, when required, boardcertified cardiologists, testing utilizes advanced equipment, the majority of which is less than 18 months old.

Anticoagulation Clinic
A new addition to the Center is Porter’s Anticoagulation Clinic that opened last November. This new service offers patients who are taking longterm prescription blood thinner medications a convenient and efficient way to be monitored. During a visit – which averages less than 30 minutes – a nurse conducts a clinical assessment and blood test. Patients immediately receive results, and if needed, adjustments to their prescription medications are made by a pharmacist at that time.

Heart Failure Program
In the Center there are separate rooms dedicated to Porter’s outpatient heart failure program. The program is designed to provide heart failure patients with the education and encouragement they need to follow the treatment program prescribed by their physicians, as well as answers to questions regarding their condition, medications and treatment.

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