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Saline County residents now have expanded local resources to care for patients at risk of heart attack.

In September, Saline Memorial Hospital entered a partnership with St. Vincent Health System and Heart Clinic Arkansas (HCA) to address the growing need for interventional cardiac care at the hospital.

Until then, Saline County residents experiencing possible cardiac arrest had to drive or be driven to Little Rock, said Clint Mickle, SMH administrative director of cardiovascular services.

"It was a minimum 30-minute drive, often longer, with traffic," Mickle said. "When you're talking about an acute cardiac situation, there's nothing more important than how quickly you restore blood flow to the area of the heart that's compromised. "Now, patients can come to our Emergency Department and we can mobilize our cath lab to restore blood flow much quicker than if they were to be transferred out of the community. That improves patient outcomes."

The hospital's investment in its new heart and vascular program includes a new full-service cath lab, new equipment for a full array of non-invasive testing services, two groups of cardiologists in clinic on site five days a week and, since January, 24/7 coverage for emergency cardiac care.

The cardiology team serving Saline Memorial in the hospital or in clinic is now up to 15 cardiologists, six of whom are interventionalists. Mickle said the cardiology team is very strong, including some of the leading experts in the area.

Saline Memorial CEO Randy Fortner said the revamped heart program will be a boon to the residents of Benton and surrounding towns. "The extended availability of our cath lab team will, not only, enhance the services offered through our emergency department, but will also continue to help us address growing needs within the community," said Fortner. "An interventional cardiologist from HCA will be on call at all times to allow for continuous physician coverage."

Mickle said that the hospital gradually became aware of the need for expanded cardiology services. "We serve a population of over 100,000 people," he said. "We looked at the surrounding community and realized that the population demanded we enhance our services."

The hospital opted for a gradual roll-out of the new services.

"We've slowly geared up," Mickle said. "We've increased our staffing since September, and we've brought the interventionalists on board, had them working here during regular hours to sharpen our skill and processes a little bit, and have now expanded that to provide call coverage. There was a need, we saw it, and addressed it, and we are confident it is going to help our community."

Tags:

cardiology, Clint Mickle, Saline Memorial Hospital, St. Vincent Health System and Heart Clinic Arkansas

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