Published: October 31, 2009 09:57 pm      

Saving lives

Long effort reaches culmination Monday as RGH angioplasty comes online

A little more than 18 months ago it was brought to our attention that Raleigh General Hospital faced a roadblock in its efforts to establish lifesaving heart procedures, namely angioplasty, at southern West Virginia’s largest provider for inpatient and outpatient hospital services.

And believe it or not, the whole issue actually surrounded someone’s calculation that Beckley was located 58 minutes from Charleston Area Medical Center. According to the state Health Care Authority’s rules governing heart services at that time, anyone located within an hour of a facility already providing those treatments had to go there, no matter the situation.

Lives were being jeopardized and families were being inconvenienced by being forced to go to Charleston or elsewhere to receive angioplasty. Between 200 and 250 cardiac patients were being forced out of southern West Virginia to receive these treatments every year.

It was our intent to make certain those in charge were aware of this critical problem.

Thankfully, Gov. Joe Manchin was quick to react once he was fully informed and he directed those involved to review the language in the Health Care Authority’s rules. Because it only made sense to revise those rules to allow the Beckley hospital to apply for the required certification, a change was made in short order.

The culmination of those efforts from 2008 will be realized Monday when our neighbors and loved ones in need of interventional cardiology services, specifically heart catheterization procedures, will have a choice to stay home, or be much closer to home.

RGH Chief Executive Officer Karen Bowling has said all along it was the desire of the hospital to deliver “the gold standard” of care for those in our region in need of these cardiac procedures, and in a timely manner. None of us can predict when someone we know or love may need this type of care, but there is comfort in knowing that the availability is close by.

Lives will be saved thanks to the efforts of the many who made this all possible.

Nothing deserved a higher priority.