The road to a healthy heart is shorter than you think. Cardiac Services right here at home.
By now you’re probably familiar with most of the ways to avoid heart disease. Things like watching your weight, not smoking, controlling blood pressure and cholesterol levels. What you need to know is where to go if you truly need cardiac services.
Volunteer Community Hospital (VCH) has expanded its cardiac capabilities and now more than ever the cardiac services you need are right here at home. With the completion of the cardiac catheterization lab, VCH can provide potentially lifesaving diagnostic cardiac services. The cardiac catheterization lab combined with the installment of a high technology nuclear medicine device and an innovative 4D cardiovascular ultra sound system demonstrates the commitment of VCH to provide the technology and specialized services right here at our community hospital.
The cardiac catheterization lab allows the physicians to perform a procedure to view artery blockages and plaque buildup, which narrows the inside of the arteries and may restrict blood flow in the heart. Other procedures performed in the cath lab include pacemaker insertion, peripheral vascular interventions and balloon pump insertion.
With the innovative nuclear medicine system our doctors have the ability to detect, characterize and quantify cardiac disease in patients. This new technology provides imaging of how blood is transferred between the heart and the rest of the body. The system employs a powerful camera that generates crystal-clear images displaying a person’s internal anatomy, including the smallest heart vessels.
The third addition to cardiac capabilities at VCH is the innovative 4D cardiovascular ultrasound system. The increased capabilities can help physicians better manage their cardiovascular patients by enhancing diagnostic confidence with real-time 4D volume acquisitions and online rendering that allows the physicians to actually see and gather more cardiac diagnostic information from a single heartbeat, helping ensure what you see, is what you get before you ever leave the lab. This system delivers advanced performance by reaching enhanced levels of image quality and contrast functionality.
In addition to the expanded services and technology, VCH has recently added a step down unit which is a progressive care unit bridging the intensive care unit and the medical/surgical unit. The step down unit allows for the monitoring and care of patients with moderate or potentially severe physiologic instability, requiring technical support but not artificial life support. The eight bed unit is staffed with a nurse patient ratio of 1:4. Patients within the step down unit are monitored on telemetry to monitor cardiac rhythm and heart rate.
The expanded services and technology are backed by a staff of physicians, nurses and other licensed personnel with extensive experience in the area of cardiac services. From the nurses in the catheterization lab, licensed radiology specialists and licensed respiratory therapists, you can rest assured that our goal at VCH is exceptional care, the expertise that you would expect to find in a larger city is available to you right here at home because you are our priority.