TTEXARKANA, Texas - CHRISTUS St. Michael Health System's Electrophysiology Lab was recently featured in "EP Lab Digest," published monthly by Healthcare Made Practical.
The seven-page spotlight article highlights the development, operations and success of the EP Lab and explains how the lab benefits the region's heart patients, according to a press release.
Already the market leader in heart care, CHRISTUS St. Michael invested $2.7 million in the construction and equipping of an EP Lab to further enhance cardiology care for area residents. The region's first and only EP Lab opened in 2016 to provide innovative heart care locally for patients with arrhythmias or irregular heartbeats. Because irregular heartbeats can lead to heart complications, fatigue, congestive heart failure or stroke, offering an EP program is critical to the heart health of Texarkana and the surrounding communities.
"Until the opening of the CHRISTUS St. Michael EP Lab, electrophysiology programs have been available mainly in major institutions in larger cities, forcing local residents to travel away from home to receive care for diagnosing and treating heart rhythm disturbances," said Lisa Patterson, BS, CNMT, RT(N), Director of Imaging Services at CHRISTUS St. Michael Health System.
In conjunction with the building of the EP Lab, Dr. Kevin Hayes, Texarkana's first and only Electrophysiologist, joined Texarkana Cardiology Associates and serves as the lab's medical director. An Electrophysiologist performs procedures to evaluate the electrical pathways of the heart to help determine the cause of heart rhythm disturbances, as well as the best procedure or device to treat heart rhythm problems.
"We are very excited for the CHRISTUS St. Michael EP Lab to be featured in EP Lab Digest because of what our lab means for this community," said Dr. Hayes. "Having a dedicated EP Lab in Texarkana allows us to treat complex and life-altering heart rhythm problems with greater convenience to the patients and their family members. This means less time off work, less time driving to the nearest referral center, and specifically for family members, less time commuting back and forth between the hospital and their homes. Many of these patients have a long-standing relationship with the doctors and nurses at CHRISTUS St. Michael and will be much more comfortable having their procedures in a familiar place."