Danbury Hospital Performs First Heart Surgeries

By Kaaren Valenta

Years of effort to establish a regional heart and vascular surgery center at Danbury Hospital came to fruition last week when surgeons performed the first open-heart surgeries at the hospital.

“We had the first case on Monday and the third on Wednesday — that’s good news for our community,” announced Frank J. Kelly, president and chief executive officer of Danbury Hospital and Danbury Health Systems, at the hospital’s annual meeting on Thursday, January 27.

The hospital last year finally received permission from the State Office of Health Care Access to perform heart surgery and offer angioplasty services. The angioplasty services are expected to begin later this year after the hospital performs a required 125 open-heart surgeries.

“Little more than a week ago, these patients would have had to be transported away from their families and their physicians to go to another hospital,” said Dr Paul Iannini, chairman of the hospital’s department of medicine.

Dr Iannini said the first three surgeries were all coronary-bypass operations. Two were elective surgeries for patients whose hearts were stable. The third was emergency surgery for an unstable patient who had three blocked arteries.

“These patients were not just diagnosed at the hospital, they were also treated, and treated well,” Mr Kelly said.

He said that after making three attempts in the early 1990s to get state approval, the breakthrough came when the American College of Cardiology declared that angioplasty worked better than clot-busting drugs in treating patients.

“The technology created new standards of care,” Mr Kelly said. “It was not acceptable to have delays of as much as three hours for patients to [be transported to other hospitals to] receive treatment.”

Gail O. Troutman, chairman of the hospital’s board of directors, called the opening of the advanced cardiac program a communitywide achievement of a journey that started in the 1980s.

“We have placed a high priority on gaining public trust, and made major commitments to improve patient safety, quality of care, and service,” she said. “We have engaged our community and worked to ensure that patients in western Connecticut and nearby New York have timely access to cardiovascular care provided by a team of experts with a proven track record of excellence.”

Keith A. Hovan, chief operating officer, said the hospital recruited a surgical team that includes Michael Frymus, MD, chief of cardiothoracic surgery; Eugene D. Fernandes, MD; and Rocco J. Lafaro, MD, as well as a nursing and support staff with experience in all facets of cardiothoracic surgery and care.

“We can offer the community the finest cardiac care anywhere,” Mr Hovan said.

Once staff was in place, the next step was training. More than 30 registered nurses, respiratory therapists, and other critical care professionals traveled to the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Ohio to train with some of the country’s top cardiothoracic surgeons and nurses.

“It was the most exciting part of my career,” said Terry Champagne, operating room nurse manager. “It was a phenomenal experience to get to work with the top heart surgeons in the country and, by the end of the day, be scrubbing and working with their teams.”

Ms Champagne said she originally trained as an operating nurse in 1977 at Yale New-Haven Hospital, when procedures were much different.

“To see open heart surgery now with all the new technology and how much technology has improved patient outcomes was mind-boggling to me,” she said. “Every moment in the operating room is critical when dealing with someone’s heart.”

A fifth generation Newtown resident, she said the establishment of a regional heart and vascular center that could serve her family and the community was an exciting achievement.

At the Cleveland Clinic, Danbury Hospital staff spent, on average, three weeks receiving extensive training in all areas of cardiothoracic surgery and intensive and cardiac care, from managing complications to stabilizing postoperative cardiac patients.

The staff also participated in an additional two weeks of training developed by Danbury Hospital’s nurse education unit, and a week of simulations, designed to ensure staff had been properly drilled in every possible cardiac scenario.

The hospital expects to open the angioplasty center by midsummer. Primary or emergency angioplasty is a procedure that can be used to treat or prevent heart attacks. A balloon is inflated inside a clogged artery to open it and increase blood flow to the heart muscle. Often a mesh, wire tube, or stent, is inserted to help keep the artery open.

The angioplasty center will augment the hospital’s cardiac catherization lab, which has been in operation for two decades. Cardiac catherization is a diagnostic procedure used to identify blockages. It involves treading a catheter through the patient’s leg or arm into the heart muscle’s three arteries, and injecting a dye to help identify any obstructions.

At the annual meeting, Mr Kelley said the hospital had delivered exemplary care and service to patients in 2004, while posting a $14 million surplus to support continued investments in technology, facilities, and programs. He said the hospital plans to create advanced programs in joint replacement, hand surgery, spine surgery, and fracture management and trauma, then start a sports medicine program to deal with sports injuries.

Next year the hospital expects to begin construction on a new outpatient and diagnostic center on Locust Avenue.

Danbury Hospital is a 371-bed, not-for-profit regional medical center and teaching hospital and the largest employer in the city of Danbury. Total admissions for 2004 were 19,549, a 2.7 percent increase from fiscal 2003, while emergency room visits increased 3.5 percent from 63,678 in 2003 to 65,907 in 2004. There were 2,362 babies born at Danbury Hospital in 2004.