(Courtesy of the Jacksonville Business Journal) – Memorial Hospital of Jacksonville is touting $9.1 million in improvements to its cardiology department.
There was a ceremony Wednesday for the opening of its newest electrophysiology lab and upgrades to its cath lab. There will be two additional EP labs and another cath lab added to its current operations with expected completion by the end of 2021.
“Our new EP Lab and upgraded Cath Lab enhances our ability to continue to provide state-of- the-art care for patients with all types of cardiac arrhythmias, as well as provide non-operative solutions for patients with structural heart disease,” said Albert E. Holt IV, Memorial’s chief medical officer, in a release.
“Our EP physicians use this leading-edge-technology known as catheter ablation to treat atrial fibrillation, the most common kind of cardiac arrhythmia, to restore patients’ quality of life and eliminate the disabling symptoms caused by this arrhythmia.”
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, followed closely by stroke as the fourth highest cause of death. Atrial fibrillation (also called AFib or AF) is a quivering or irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia) that can lead to blood clots, stroke, heart failure and other heart- related complications. At least 2.7 million Americans are living with AFib.
Here’s an overview of what is new.
New Electrophysiology Lab:
• Added an additional Electrophysiology Lab, which provides added resources to perform atrial fibrillation ablations. Untreated atrial fibrillation puts patients at a higher risk for stroke and heart failure. Those with atrial fibrillation have 3 to 5 times greater risk for ischemic stroke.
• New ceiling mounted booms to support complex medical equipment and allow the team easy patient access and the ability to move it away from the imaging table.
• New extra-large display monitors which provide a multimodality solution for detailed cardiac imagery for physician diagnosis.
Upgraded Cath Lab:
• Added new state-of-the-art Philips imaging system.
• New upgrades allow team the ability to do both coronary and peripheral procedures in one setting.
• New extra-large display monitors with multi-modality solution for detailed cardiac imagery for physician diagnosis.
Memorial is an American College of Cardiology (ACC) Chest Pain accredited center with PCI Accreditation.