We've Teamed Up To Bring World-Class Heart Care To Southern Indiana

In southern Indiana, exceptional heart care has always been available right across the river. But at Clark Memorial Hospital, we didn't think that was close enough. So, with help from Jewish Hospital, the region's only Solucient ® Top 100 Cardiovascular Center, we built a state-of-the-art heart care facility here in Jeffersonville.

Offering many of the same diagnostic and treatment services as Jewish Hospital - performed by many of the same doctors - the new Clark Memorial Heart Center truly brings world-class heart care to southern Indiana.

 “This Clark Memorial Hospital and Jewish Hospital Heart and Lung Institute expansion is in response to cardiac needs in Clark County,” said Dr. Gordon Gutmann, general surgeon and chairman of the Clark Memorial Hospital Board of Trustees. “Heart disease is the number one disease and cause of death for Clark County residents. While Clark Memorial has provided diagnostic cardiac procedures for well over a decade, patients must leave their home county for therapeutic interventional cardiac care. The Heart Center allows Clark County residents to receive state-of-the-art interventional cardiac services close to home.”

Cardiac catheterization is a specialized study of the heart to determine if a patient suffers from coronary heart disease. A peripheral, or diagnostic catheterization, utilizes a catheter or thin hollow flexible tube inserted into the artery or vein in the arm or leg to measure the blood pressure within the heart, how much oxygen is in the blood and where blockages may be located. More invasive therapeutic procedures, such as therapeutic catheterizations and balloon angioplasties, advance that catheter into the chambers of the heart or into the coronary arteries and remove blockages.

Since the joint venture began in 1990, Clark Memorial and the Heart and Lung Institute have provided cardiovascular diagnostics and stabilization services in one catheterization lab at Clark Memorial. The Heart Center will provide for interventional – or therapeutic – catheterization and angioplasty procedures, as well.

According to David Zechman, CEO of the Heart and Lung Institute, technological advances, such as medicated stents, are making therapeutic interventional balloon angioplasty an option for more patients who have coronary artery disease. “The addition of interventional cardiac care allows more patients to be treated locally. Although open-heart surgery is still a viable and important treatment, we feel it is important that a wide range of options be available at Clark Memorial allowing us to help more patients with less invasive procedures.”

The Heart Center features two new cardiac catheterization laboratories for both diagnostic and therapeutic balloon angioplasty procedures. “Procedure preparations, cardiac procedures and post procedure/recovery occurs in one location, which is convenient for patients, families and physicians,” according to Zechman. Clark Memorial also provides cardiac rehabilitation. Clark has added 12 private telemetry rooms for monitoring those patients who need to stay overnight after their procedure.

The Heart Center includes 6,100 square feet of new construction, and renovation of 9,575 square feet in a first-floor area of the hospital that was part of the 1997 major hospital expansion. The area has been used for the Wellness Center, physical therapy, respiratory therapy and cardiac rehabilitation services.

“Our cardiac partnership with Jewish Hospital HealthCare Services (JHHS) and our other joint ventures are win-win opportunities for Clark Memorial and Clark County,” Dr. Gutmann said. “We maintain our independence as a community-owned hospital, but have access to the expertise of a nationally-recognized healthcare leader.”

Clark Memorial Hospital is a 241-bed acute care community hospital in Jeffersonville, Ind. The 1990 cardiac joint venture was a precursor to the establishment of a management contract agreement with JHHS in 1992. Since then, the two organizations have joined in five other successful joint ventures in rehabilitation, home health, staffing and purchasing.

Jewish Hospital is one of the premier heart hospitals in the United States, dedicated to excellence in clinical care, research and education. Jewish Hospital has been the site of many “firsts,” including the world's first and second successful AbioCor® artificial heart implants and the world's first and nation’s second successful hand transplant. In 2001, Jewish Hospital became the first hospital in the region to earn the Magnet designation; the highest honor for nursing services, and in 2003 received the Consumer Choice Award as the most preferred hospital in Louisville for the fifth consecutive year.

To learn more, please call 812-283-2203.

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