Open floor plan awaits NCH heart center

Ten years ago is practically the Stone Age when it comes to medicine.

That's when the NCH Healthcare System debuted its open-heart surgery program — the only one in Collier County, which ushered in a new era in health care in the community.

Now a new era is on the horizon as the NCH Shick Heart Center makes a move to more spacious quarters on the second floor of Naples Community Hospital that will accommodate advancements in open-heart surgery and offer more privacy for patients and their families.

Scheduled to open in early July, the new program will have three operating rooms for open-heart surgery, the same as now, and the new unit will have its own preoperative admitting room and its own waiting room for family members. Instead of one recovery room where the open-heart patients are separated by curtains, each patient will have his own recovery room.

"The privacy and aesthetics for cardiothoracic patients will be greatly improved," said Bill Diamond, director of surgical services for NCH.

Moving the open-heart program likewise will bring a long overdue benefit to the general community. The three operating suites used now for open-heart surgery will become part of the overall surgical program.

That means a 30-percent increase in capacity for all other surgeries, which has seen a huge volume increase in the last decade and meant performing surgery around the clock and still meant waits for patients and their families.

"The total number of surgeries outside of open heart went to 9,000 a year," Diamond said. "Patients having to wait for surgery in season has always been an issue and staff were here late at night. Now we can accommodate a better time frame."

That's not to say late-night surgery will be eliminated, he cautioned, but the waits should be shorter when the number of overall surgical suites increases from six to nine in July.

The new location of the open-heart program is near the skybridge walkway and offices of the three open-heart surgeons at the Medical Plaza building across Eighth Street North.

The new surgery rooms for the open-heart program are larger to accommodate the nine or so medical personnel involved and for the array of video equipment and other medical equipment used.

"The cardiac surgeons are very excited," said Dr. Perry Gotsis, chief medical officer of NCH. "This is really state of the art."

The post-operative unit for the open-heart program has nine rooms, three of which will be open bays for patients who require more equipment hook-ups, said Jeff McRoberts, director of critical care units for NCH. Previously, the recovery unit for open-heart patients was near where the operating suites were located; now the entire program is self-contained, he said.

"It's going to be awesome," said Dr. Scot Schultz, a cardiovascular surgeon at the hospital. "It's a big step for us, not only for cardiac surgery but the other surgery programs as well. From our perspective, it really shows a commitment on the part of the hospital."

NCH opened the first open-heart program in Collier in 1996 and projected performing 200 surgeries a year, an estimate that proved far lower than what happened, Diamond said.

"We did 400 the first year and 500 a year for the rest of the decade," Diamond said.

Now the expectation is the volume of open-heart surgeries will stay steady for a time due to alternative treatment for heart disease, such as use of drug-coated stents to open clogged arteries, more minimally-invasive procedures being performed and newer medications to prevent heart disease.

In time the volume should start to pick up again when drug stents now used in some heart patients wear out and as the general population ages, Gotsis said.

The total construction cost of the new open-heart program is $2.7 million and the new equipment will cost $1 million.

"Without philanthropic support of the community, this might not have been possible," Gotsis said.