Affairs of the Heart

New heart center will allow Sussex County patients to get testing closer to home, By Margaret Witt Sussex county - Thanks to a new heart center in its final stages of construction at Newton Memorial Hospital, Sussex County residents soon will no longer have to travel to Morristown Memorial Hospital for cardiac testing. The convenience will also be appreciated by Dr. Paul Owens, Newton Memorial’s head of cardiology, along staff cardiologists Dr. Robert Masci, Dr. David Buyer, Dr. William Scarpa and Dr. Richard Redline, who will now be able to see test results immediately and discuss them on-site with patients. The $7.2-million expansion that will house the heart center was envisioned by hospital planners three years ago and began to take shape last December, when ground was broken for the Charles L. Tice Heart Center for Diagnostic Services. With construction in its final phases, the center expects to open its doors for business in mid-October, said Jim Ferguson, the hospital’s director of marketing. “You will be able to see in seven locations around the county a new hospital billboard come this September, with the five cardiologists pictured, advertising the opening of the new facility,” he said. The expansion includes a two-story building with two wings. One will house the non-invasive testing area, which includes pacemakers, Holter monitors, echocardiography and electrocardiograms. In this area is also the family waiting room, with a coffee bar and flat-screen TV to keep patients and their families comfortable while they wait their turn. “Today’s expectations of hospitals are different - people want them to look less like a hospital and have more amenities like a hotel,” says Ferguson. a cardiac catheterization lab On the other side are six private patient bays, each with its own flat-screen TV, as well. The star of the new center lives on this side as well - a $1.1 million catheterization lab to help the cardiologists diagnose patients with vascular/coronary heart disease. Here doctors will be able to measure blood pressure in the heart itself. They will also be able to measure oxygen levels in the blood and detect blockages in coronary arteries. According to Clint Ackerman, director of outpatient services and materials manager for the center, the hospital has purchased state-of-the-art equipment that can give doctors a three-dimensional view of the heart. Other technological advances in the center include a special consultation room where doctors can discuss test results with patients and their families. Also, thanks to an Internet-linked system with the catheterization lab, medical personnel can show a video of the test to the patients and even access the footage in their offices. When the tests are done, DVDs of the procedure are given to patients, making trips to other physicians much easier. With its opening right around the corner, the hospital is already looking into plans to add on to the services the heart center will provide, such as angioplasties. “The hospital has to follow the state’s mandates, which have us take baby steps and monitor us as we go. With each cath we do, the state audits it to make sure everything is going as it should,” says Ackerman. This auditing goes on for about two years, and perhaps longer, he added. No longer will the doctors need to dictate reports the old-fashioned way, either. The heart center will be equipped with a point-and-click method of making their reports, which will save time, streamline paperwork for the hospital and help keep the state up to date, as well. According to the hospital, more than 10,000 residents in Sussex, Warren and Pike counties are dealing with cardiovascular disease, and now they will have a convenient place to go and receive care.