Now open for open-heart

Summerlin Hospital continues to expand services

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There is a short list of hospitals in Southern Nevada which perform open-heart surgery. Summerlin Hospital is now one of them.

On Jan. 17, Dr. Nancy Donahoe, director of cardio-vascular surgery, spent roughly 3 1/2 hours in the operating room with her team of 10 performing a quadruple bypass. The patient was Susan Rodriguez, 61, who lives near Palace Station.

For about three months, Rodriguez was feeling unusual symptoms, like her clothes feeling tight and a pushing sensation in her abdomen. She decided to go see her gynecologist. There, she also mentioned her occasional dizziness and tendency to tire easily.

A round of tests discovered her uterine problem but also determined she had coronary artery disease.

"One of her arteries was 100 percent blocked, the second was 90 percent blocked, the third one had 80 percent blockage and there was 75 to 80 percent blockage in the fourth artery," Donahoe said.

It didn't come as a surprise to Rodriguez. Her father died of a heart attack at 42. Her brother underwent a quadruple bypass. Rodriguez admitted to eating a lot of fatty foods.

In the past, the hospital would stabilize and then transfer out those who required advanced cardiac surgery. Summerlin Hospital saw more than 20 patients each month who had to be transported.

"We now have a team of highly experienced staff prepared to handle ruptured thoracic aneurysms and other critical cardiovascular cases," said Ann Benson, chief nursing executive. "Our surgical team consists of physicians, nurses and technologists, who have more than 100 years of combined experience in this area, with an average of 18 years of individual experience."

The hospital also is changing how patients are cared for after heart procedures. They used to be switched to different units as their recovery progressed. Now, they are taken to the hospital's new Cardiovascular Care Unit (CVCU) and they remain there until discharged.

The first 24 hours after open heart surgery is critical. Experienced cardiac nurses know to be on the lookout for subtle symptoms nurses without special training might miss.

Registered nurse Brad Umsted, director of cardiology, called it a "one-stop shopping idea, where the patients' care comes to them."

No other hospital in Las Vegas has such a policy, said Rick Plummer, director of marketing and communications.

"It's great for me," Donahoe said. "All my patients are in the same place."

Donahoe, who is used to performing as many as 200 open-heart surgeries annually, joined Summerlin Hospital about a year ago to set up the new program. The toughest part, she said, was locating experienced staff to be part of the operating team.

Rodriguez may have been the first open-heart surgery case at Summerlin Hospital, but others quickly followed.

"We had four surgeries in the first two days," Plummer said. "One of them came into the Emergency Room."

He said with the heart surgery team in place, Summerlin could handle emergency cases like that, where time was of the essence. Before, the ER patient had to be transported elsewhere and might not get care until two or three hours later.

As for Rodriguez, she spent two days recovering before going home to her cats.

"I am cured and I had the best of the best care thanks to my doctor and the staff here," she said.