Heart Care

---

At Merit Health Central, we realize that access to complete cardiac services is more than just an added convenience - it could mean the difference between life and death. That's why we opened our heart program. We combine experienced personnel, technology and heartfelt compassion, setting the framework for the quality care that we provide for our patients.

We are equipped to provide comprehensive care for a variety of heart disorders. Both non-invasive and invasive procedures, including cardiac catheterization and open-heart surgery. Our services include two heart catheterization labs, diagnostic imaging with one of the nation's first PET/CT scanners, cardiovascular surgery, and a cardiopulmonary rehabilitation center.

With the addition of a Cardiac Electrophysiology Lab, heart arrhythmias can now be more readily diagnosed and treated. This technology allows Merit Health Central's heart care specialists to:

• Treat patients with cardiac arrhythmias by implanting pacemakers in hearts with unhealthy rhythms to monitor and regulate the heartbeat
• Access cardioverter defibrillators to deliver to lifesaving shocks to hearts with life threatening rhythms
• Use radiofrequency ablation to repair rapid, uncoordinated heartbeats

Monitoring technology and skilled nursing care enable patients recovering from surgery to stabilize and to begin the recovery process. Some patients may require care in one of our intensive care units. Once stabilized, medical and surgical cardiac patients are transferred to a telemetry unit where we can continue to monitor their heart's progress before their discharge.

Merit Health Central's heart care services are composed of interdisciplinary teams of experienced cardiologists and cardiovascular surgeons with noteworthy reputations in cardiac care.