Mercy Health Opens Heart Valve Clinic
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (PRWEB) January 15, 2015 -- Mercy Health Youngstown, formerly Humility of Mary Health Partners, recently opened a heart valve clinic at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital. The valve clinic provides a multidisciplinary team approach for diagnosing and treating patients with valvular heart disease.
“This multidisciplinary team brings together cardiologists and cardiothoracic surgeons to evaluate each patient and collaboratively develop individual treatment plans best suited to meet the needs and provide the best outcomes for every patient,” explains Mariann Pacak, director of Heart & Vascular Services at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital. “By encouraging discussions between cardiologists and surgeons, patients with complex valvular disease can be thoroughly assessed for the appropriate treatment.”
The heart valve clinic was developed after a review of echocardiograms suggested that a high percentage of patients in the tri-county region have severe valvular heart disease.
Now, when echocardiographic findings indicate that a patient has severe valvular heart disease – as defined by American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association guidelines – the echo technician immediately notifies the interpreting cardiologist and valve clinic coordinator. The valve clinic coordinator then works with the primary care physician and interpreting cardiologist to coordinate additional diagnostic testing and consultation. Once the specialists have identified treatment recommendations, findings and recommendations are shared with the patient’s primary care providers.
The heart valve clinic at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital is on the first floor and is easily accessible from the main entrance to the hospital.
About Mercy Health Youngstown
Mercy Health Youngstown, formerly Humility of Mary Health Partners, is an integrated health system in the Mahoning Valley, which encompasses the Youngstown/Warren metropolitan area – Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties in Ohio. It is part of Mercy Health, which is headquartered in Cincinnati and is the largest health system in Ohio and one of the largest Catholic health systems in the United States. Mercy Health Youngstown provides a full spectrum of health care services – acute inpatient and trauma, outpatient and ambulatory, rehabilitation, behavioral, emergency and urgent care, primary care physicians in patient-centered medical homes, specialist physician care, home health, home medical equipment, long-term care and hospice care, as well as Mercy Health Foundation. Learn more at http://www.mercy.com/Youngstown.
###
Maraline Kubik, Humility of Mary Health Partners, http://HMpartners.org, +1 (330) 480-2258, [email protected]
Share this article