Danbury Hospital Tops 10,000 Mark  In Its Cardiac Services Petition Drive

DANBURY –– Last month Danbury Hospital filed a Letter of Intent with the State of Connecticut Office of Health Care Access (OHCA) to outline a plan that would bring the standard of care for treating heart attacks –– coronary angioplasty –– along with cardiac surgery to western Connecticut.

As the hospital prepares its formal request for permission to offer these services, it wants the backing of area residents. To date, more than 10,000 people from 40 municipalities have backed the plan by signing petitions that will accompany a Certificate of Need application to OHCA in the fall.

According to Danbury Hospital and Danbury Health Systems Inc President and CEO Frank J. Kelly, people in greater Danbury and surrounding towns do not receive the same level of cardiac care as those in other areas of Connecticut and the United States.

“Now that angioplasty is the standard of care for treating heart attacks, our patients want and deserve direct access to these services,” said Mr Kelly. “Several widely regarded studies show angioplasty as the most effective treatment for patients suffering a heart attack rather than clot-dissolving drugs. An estimated two-thirds of Americans, or more than one million, who have heart attacks annually do not have access to angioplasty, and we don’t want the people of greater Danbury to be among them,” he said.

To access the web petition, visit www.danburyhospital.org. The site includes background on the campaign, a well as the web petition, and printable individual and group petitions, in the right column of the home page. Look for the red heart campaign logo and the words “Danbury Hospital –– Quality Cardiac Care” on the right side of the screen. To “sign” online, click on “Sign the Web Petition,” complete the form and click on “Submit Petition.”

Petitions also are available at the hospital’s information desks, cafeteria, and the waiting areas of cardiology, the emergency department, radiology reception, and human resources. Signed petitions should be returned to the collection boxes in the hospital lobbies, cafeteria or to Community Relations, fifth floor South Building or by fax at 203-830-2093. For general information about the campaign, call Community Relations at 797-7247.

In materials prepared to secure public support for the campaign, the hospital also cited these reasons for planning this kind of service:

*Time is essential in treating cardiac patients, and current state-approved facilities are distant. Delays due to traffic, weather, and availability of transportation cause patients to recover more slowly and suffer more complications.

*Technological advances have resulted in decreased risk for these interventional services; thus, clot-dissolving drugs are now by-passed, and angioplasty is the standard of care.

*Distance from the present approved programs causes increased hardships on families, who represent an important part of the patient’s recovery and rehabilitation. Danbury patients currently have the second longest distance in Connecticut to travel to interventional cardiac services.

*The inherent clinical and financial strength of Danbury Hospital’s infrastructure and performance means the hospital is the logical provider to offer these services in western Connecticut.

*An inability to provide these services makes western Connecticut less desirable to employers, residents, and physicians. People in communities of this size expect direct access to this level of care, and physicians want to be associated with a hospital that practices at the forefront of cardiac expertise.

*Plans for the interventional cardiology program follow several decades of advances in cardiovascular care at Danbury Hospital, which operates an extensive noninvasive cardiac testing center; the Jack and Richard Lawrence Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory, which has very low complication rates and maintains a 100 percent credentialed staff in invasive cardiology; a fully accredited echocardiography laboratory; advanced nuclear cardiology services; coronary care and telemetry inpatient units; a preventive cardiology program at the Marcus Cardiac Rehabilitation Center; and an accredited noninvasive vascular laboratory and vascular surgery program.