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Toms River, N.J., November
14, 2008 – On Monday, November 10, New Jersey’s
Commissioner of Health and Senior Services Heather Howard granted
12 hospitals permission to participate in an important study
of elective angioplasty. Community Medical Center in Toms River
was one of those 12.
The study, called the Atlantic C-PORT-E Study of elective angioplasty,
is undertaken in partnership with Johns Hopkins and Duke University
Clinical Research Center. The goal is to determine the success
rate of angioplasty performed at hospitals without a cardiac surgery
unit.
Mark D. Pilla, executive vice president of Operations for the
Saint Barnabas Health Care System and executive director of Community
Medical Center, said, “Ocean County residents will greatly
benefit from this service at Community Medical Center, and we are
grateful Commissioner Howard recognized the unique population and
medical needs of this region.”
Community Medical Center treats more adults with heart disease
diagnoses than any other hospital in New Jersey. In 2007, the hospital
performed nearly 1,100 cardiac catheterizations and 125 emergent
angioplasties – more than any other hospital in the state
without cardiac surgery.
“The sad reality is that more Ocean County residents die
from heart disease than any other county in New Jersey,” Pilla
said. “More people are treated for heart attacks in Ocean
County than anywhere else in the state.”
Angioplasty is a surgical procedure in which a small balloon is
inserted to open a blocked artery and restore blood flow to the
heart. A heart attack can occur if that blood flow becomes completely
blocked. Community Medical Center has been performing emergent
angioplasty for over two years and its survival rate is well above
the national average.
“Community, with the support of the Saint Barnabas Health
Care System, has demonstrated that our ability to offer life saving
emergent angioplasty makes us uniquely qualified to do so on an
elective basis,” Pilla said. “The residents of Ocean
County need this program close to home.”
Pilla said inclusion in the study is even more gratifying because
Community recently earned five-star ratings – the highest
possible – for the treatment of heart attack and heart failure
from HealthGrades, the nation’s leading independent health
care ratings company. Community has also received the HealthGrades
Distinguished Award for Clinical Excellence for four years in a
row placing it in the Top 5% of hospitals in the nation.
The hospital has already begun the process to implement elective
angioplasty and Pilla said the service would be available “as
soon as possible.”
“We will continue to keep our staff, physicians and the
public updated on our progress,” he said.
“We all have reason to be proud today,” Pilla added. “This
marks an important milestone in our ongoing efforts to improve
the health care of Ocean County residents.”
For more information about Community Medical Center, visit www.saintbarnabas.com or
call 1-888-SBHS-123.
Kristine A. Brown
Director of Public Relations
(732) 557-3902
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