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46 °F Forecast | Road Cams Thursday, February 26, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find a Rental Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Email Story to a Friend January 20, 2004 Jeanine Holtby, a registered nurse, monitors a patient�s vital signs during a diagnostic angiogram at the new Cardiovascular Institute of Southern Oregon on the campus of Rogue Valley Medical Center. Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Heart-to-heart accord Three local physician groups join with RVMC to set up two new cardiac diagnostic labs By BILL KETTLER Mail Tribune Three physicians’ groups have joined with Rogue Valley Medical Center to provide better care for the Rogue Valley’s ailing hearts. The Cardiovascular Institute of Southern Oregon gives physicians two new laboratories to diagnose diseases of the heart and circulatory system. Before the labs opened, doctors had to schedule diagnostic exams at RVMC’s already busy labs or at Providence Medford Medical Center. "With the volume of work that had to be done, somebody was going to have to build a new lab," said cardiologist Dr. Steve Schnugg. "We built an outpatient lab." An outpatient setting allows patients and their families to avoid the tedious hospital admitting procedure. The institute’s non-hospital setting also reduces patients’ anxiety about procedures that can be downright frightening, said Wendy Perston, administrative director at the Cardiovascular Institute. Advertisement "We’re smaller," she said, "and that’s less intimidating." The two new "cath labs" have been designed specifically for physicians who use catheters (flexible tubes that travel through the body inside blood vessels) to locate heart and circulatory problems. X-ray-sensitive dye injected through the catheter allows physicians to see blocked arteries and other problems. Schnugg said the joint venture will help local hospitals and physicians meet the region’s growing demand for cardiac care. Diseases of the heart and circulatory system occur predominantly in older people, and census projections suggest the senior population in Southern Oregon and Northern California will more than double between 2000 and 2020 (from 90,000 to 217,000). The number of cardiac procedures at RVMC’s cath labs rose 36 percent between 1998 and 2000 (from 3,624 to 4,933). "The thing we’re offering is comfort and convenience," said Schnugg, a cardiologist at Heart Clinic of Southern Oregon and Northern California. His group has office space in the three-story building, along with Cardiology Consultants and a group of vascular surgeons who work together as Oregon Surgical Specialists. In addition to angiograms, the laboratories will be used to perform routine procedures such as angioplasty of peripheral arteries. In angioplasty, physicians insert a thin balloon into a blocked artery and inflate it to restore normal blood flow. Higher-risk procedures, such as implanting pacemakers and angioplasty of coronary arteries, will be performed at RVMC, the region’s only hospital with the full range of cardiac care. Located at 520 Medical Center Drive (near RVMC’s new parking garage), the Cardiovascular Institute cost about $6.9 million. All four partners have an equal share in the building; the land is owned by RVMC. The hospital considered building new cath labs as part of its $92 million expansion and remodeling project, but it decided to work with the physicians’ groups to provide cardiac diagnostic services outside the hospital. Perston said the physicians’ groups and RVMC administrators chose to work together rather than create competing angiography centers. "It would be difficult to support (financially) if it didn’t have enough volume," she said. "This way makes it feasible to support the capital outlay, and the hospital still has a part in it." Reach reporter Bill Kettler at 776-4492, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback 3 WEEKS FREE! ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S RESOURCES Oregon Road Conditions & Cams SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Food for Thought Wellness Connection Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities Prime Times