Edward Hospital plans specialty cardiac innovation center
Edward Hospital in Naperville has been building its specialty in cardiac care for 25 years, and now a new space under development will help doctors innovate even further.
The hospital is renovating a space on the first floor of the Edward Heart Hospital into the Cardiac Innovations & Structural Heart Center using $2 million from the Edward Foundation. The facility for testing, research, diagnostics, treatment team meetings and patient consultations is expected to be complete by next fall.
The innovation center will bring together services typically provided throughout the Heart Hospital to make care more convenient, said Dr. Mark Goodwin, an interventional cardiologist who is the Edward-Elmhurst Health system medical director for the Cardiac Innovations & Structural Heart Center. But it won't replace the catheterization lab and hybrid operating room where most heart procedures are conducted.
"It's not where the procedure will be done, but where patients will be seen and the team will discuss the best approach for the patient," said Goodwin, who is affiliated with Midwest Heart Specialists, a part of Advocate Medical Group. "It allows all the doctors to come together to discuss new innovations, new concepts and new devices that are being developed."
Edward Heart Hospital already is a leader in several new heart procedures that use less invasive means than traditional open-heart surgery or offer treatments for patients who otherwise would be too sick, Goodwin said. Many of these procedures treat structural heart diseases, abnormalities caused by underlying conditions or wear and tear, by using catheters or new techniques that are under testing and development.
Goodwin said doctors at Edward are so skilled in some innovative heart surgeries that they train doctors from other countries by setting up video cameras and wearing headphones to answer questions.
"We hope the new center will put us further ahead," Goodwin said.
Patients, too, come from far and wide for treatment of conditions such as atrial fibrillation, peripheral artery disease, irregular heart rhythms or degenerative mitral regurgitation, said Meghan Moreno, executive director of the Edward Foundation. Many later say Heart Hospital doctors saved their lives.
"We've received wonderful accolades about our heart program and so many people are impacted," Moreno said. "That makes it a great initiative to rally around."
Work on the structural heart center is scheduled to begin this fall, during a year when Edward-Elmhurst Health plans to cut $50 million. With funding for the renovations from the charitable arm of the Edward Foundation, the project is able to move forward.
"Now more than ever in terms of health care reform, philanthropy is becoming more critical," Moreno said.
The new center will have three exam rooms, two vascular ultrasound rooms, two procedure rooms, a stress echo procedure room, two clinician offices, a cardiac diagnostics space, a diagnostic reading room and an education and prevention office.
"It's a great thrill to be at a place where the foundation helps us support doing new innovations that allow patients to live longer, but not just live longer but have a quality of life," Goodwin said. "That's what the center is for."