Mercy St. Anne adding cardiac-care options

Full-service cath lab will be open by Oct.

Renovations at Mercy St. Anne Hospital’s new operating room, shown in an example, will cost $3.7 million.

Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center is well known for its Heart & Vascular Center and now a Mercy hospital in West Toledo will offer many of the same cardiac-care options.

Renovations will begin next week inside Mercy St. Anne Hospital to enlarge the operating room area to provide space for a new catheterization lab and a cardiac surgery center, said Brad Bertke, president and CEO of Mercy St. Anne.

“As much as possible we have tried to leverage the excellent program we already have at St.V’s and the doctors and staff in the community,” he said.

“Many people really like this area and don’t want to travel far. We love this area. We find it central and attractive to many people who may prefer to have their care here,” said Dr. Ahed Nahhas, the medical director of the new lab.

The renovations and new equipment will cost $3.7 million and will open in stages. The catheterization lab is expected to open by the end of August and will initially provide diagnostic services.

“If someone is diagnosed and needs angioplasty, a stent, catheterization, or other procedure we would still have to transfer them to St. Vincent Medical Center in the beginning phase,” Dr. Nahhas said.

By October, however, Mercy officials plan to have a full service cath lab as well as a surgical center at St. Anne to provide diagnosis and treatment.

“If someone is having a heart attack in Michigan or in Sylvania they will go to St. V’s or Toledo. If you have St. Anne’s they will stop here,” Dr. Nahhas said. “It will open doors for speedy access for certain populations.”

St. Anne is considered one of the smaller hospitals in the Mercy system with 39,076 visits to its emergency room and 4,356 inpatient admissions in 2013. By comparison, St. Vincent Medical Center had 61,841 emergency room visits and 17,193 inpatient admissions in 2013.

“You know a lot of people don’t want to go to a big facility and navigate through all that. One of the things the doctors are excited about is from the ER it’s up one floor to the cath lab,” said Mr. Bertke.

“You really don’t need these days big hospitals anymore and if you look at what’s happening ... town hospitals are turning rooms with two beds into a one-bed room to make it more luxurious because they don’t need it. There is an emphasis by everybody to do things on an outpatient basis,” Dr. Nahhas said.

He said a mix of inpatient and outpatient procedures will be performed at the new cath lab.

A section of the second floor of the two-level facility will be designated for cardiac patients, said Mr. Bertke. The hospital is in the process of hiring staff with specific experience in treating and caring for heart patients, he said.

The lab and surgical center will be constructed from existing space within the current surgical area that was created during the construction of the building in 2002.

All the work will take place behind the scenes and there will be no disruptions to existing services, said Mr. Bertke.

Contact Marlene Harris-Taylor Marlene Harris-Taylor at: mtaylor@theblade.com or 419-724-6091.