Page 5 - Simi Valley Hospital | Your Health | Spring 2013

your health w 5
wwThis spring, the hospital is implementing
an additional response team for patients
who experience a stroke while they are
being treated elsewhere in the hospital.
wwFor patients whose symptoms require
the consultation of a neurologist, the
physician will arrive within 30 minutes of
being called, day or night.
wwStroke patients will get priority for
CT scans and lab tests. Because time is
essential, CT scans will be completed
within 25 minutes, and all lab tests will be
completed within 45 minutes.
wwA nurse will be dedicated to monitor
every individual stroke patient during the
beginning of his or her hospital stay.
wwSimi Valley Hospital nurses will become
certified by the National Institutes of
Health to incorporate a stroke assessment
scale into the overall care assessment
they are trained to carry out.
The hospital has also joined Get With
The Guidelines, a program sponsored
by the American Heart Association
and American Stroke Association that
will further boost the strength of the
stroke program at Simi Valley Hospital.
The hospital will be part of a national
database that helps caregivers identify
the best treatment approaches and
practices for stroke patients.
“The process to be certified as a
primary stroke center involves every
department of the hospital,” Shorts said,
“so this is a huge undertaking for us.
However, it will help us provide the
best possible care for the stroke
patients in this community, so everyone
is on board to make this happen.”
clubs and other organizations to
help people commit to changing
the way they look at their own
individual health habits.”
Stopping heart attacks
While prevention of heart disease is
always the best option, the reality is that
people still need services to treat heart
disease when it occurs. One of the key
components of modern heart treatment
is a cardiac catheterization laboratory,
a facility that enables cardiologists
to diagnose and treat many types of
heart issues without surgery. In the
catheterization process, a physician
threads a thin, flexible tube called a
catheter through an incision—typically
in the groin—up to the heart. The
catheter tip can be fitted with a variety
of tools, including a “balloon” that can
be inflated to clear blocked arteries.
For that reason, cardiac
catheterization is the gold standard
for treating heart attacks that
occur as a result of a blockage in
an artery. In hospitals that have a
cardiac catheterization laboratory,
patients who arrive in the emergency
department with symptoms of
heart attack are often transferred
for an immediate catheterization
Progress. Equipment installation in Simi Valley Hospital’s
new Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory was moving along swiftly
when this photo was taken in early February. The new lab—the
first of its kind in Ventura County—is set to open this spring.
procedure as soon as the heart
attack is confirmed.
A new service debuts
This spring, Simi Valley Hospital
will open the community’s first-
ever Cardiac Catheterization
Lab. The facility will be part of an
11,000-square-foot area on the lower
level of the Patient Care Tower that
will also include a Gastrointestinal
(GI) Laboratory that will replace the
hospital’s current GI Lab.
Simi Valley Hospital’s new
Cardiac Catheterization Lab will
also have the distinction of being
Ventura County’s
only hybrid lab—
meaning that it
can be converted
to a complete
open-heart surgery
suite whenever
physicians
determine that
a particular case
warrants that type
of care.
“Physicians often
say ‘time is muscle,’
which means that
the longer a patient
waits for care, the more of the heart
muscle is lost,” Milstien said. “We
feel the burden of responsibility to
ensure that Simi Valley residents
no longer have to be transported
15 miles or more away to receive heart
attack treatment. Our new Cardiac
Catheterization Lab will eliminate
that step of transportation, which is
going to make a big difference for
our patients.”
Milstien added that the new
facility will expand the scope of
service the community’s highly
skilled cardiologists can offer to their
patients close to home.
healthy hearts