Good health close to home
SUMMIT TWP — Butler Health System expanded its heart care program with the opening of the Heart and Vascular Center in the former Morgan II building at the intersection of routes 422, 38 and 68.
Margie McLaughlin, director of cardiology, said the building had to be renovated, which took an intensive six months of work.
The first floor features a registration desk, a small cafe — which is open to the public — and free wireless Internet. Also, one waiting room area can be transformed into a classroom or meeting area for physicians and other groups.
One side of the building features rooms for stress tests with windows overlooking the busy intersection, McLaughlin said. The other side is used for ultrasound testing and is without windows.
"These tests are generally done in a darkened room, so we picked this side without windows for these rooms," she said.
Floors two and three house private companies, Central Blood Banks offices or are still under construction.
The fourth floor is for cardiologists, including Dr. Dean Woltz, chief of heart and vascular services. Woltz came to BHS via recruitment from a Pittsburgh hospital and practice.
Now he works with the hospital, the center and is a member of the Three Rivers Cardiac practice with Drs. George Davliakos and Hazem El-Khatib."Butler has done a great job with its heart services so far — done a remarkable job with open-heart surgeries," Woltz said.The Heart and Vascular Center, he said, is another step to keep more heart patients closer to home instead of having to send them to Pittsburgh."Plus there is our secondary service area that includes Franklin and Meadville; patients who have the choice of Pittsburgh or Erie, but in the end, Butler is closer than both," Woltz said.The center's rehabilitation gym also helps keep people closer to home during their recoveries and provides a place to walk on a treadmill or ride a stationary bike or lift weights under the care of cardiology nurses.John Cammisa of Butler was happily riding a bike in the rehabilitation unit Wednesday, part of his recovery from the placement of stints in arteries leading to his heart."This is a great place to come," Cammisa said. "Tell my wife I really am doing my workout."
