The new Liberty Regional Heart & Vascular Center is coming to Liberty Hospital!

Liberty Hospital is growing again! Open-heart surgery is coming to Liberty Hospital, and the construction has already begun! Responding to community need, the Liberty Hospital Board of Trustees has approved the establishment of the new heart and vascular center at Liberty Hospital. “An open-heart program is fundamental to providing advanced cardiac care for our patients,” said Joe Crossett, Liberty Hospital administrator. “It will not only be a point of pride for our facility but for our community as well.”

Building for your heart: the Heart & Vascular Center timeline

July 2008        

Liberty Hospital Board of Trustees approves the development of a comprehensive heart program, including the development of an open-heart surgery program.

October 2008  Liberty Hospital once again receives accreditation by the Society of Chest Pain Centers. The hospital was the first in the northland to achieve this designation.

January 2009   

Liberty Hospital consults with architectural firm Wilson Johnson Embers to determine the physical requirements for the heart center expansion.

February 2009

Liberty Hospital announces its new cardiothoracic surgeon, Michael Gorton, MD, who will join the program in October.

March 2009

Liberty Hospital announces the name of its new open-heart program as the Liberty Regional Heart and Vascular Center.

April 2009

The first phase of construction begins and includes the remodeling of part of a Surgery supply room and equipment room. Together these rooms will be converted into a new state-of-the-art surgery suite for the open-heart program.

May 2009

Liberty Hospital welcomes Liberty Cardiovascular Specialists to its medical staff. Its physicians include Linda Crouse, MD; Paul Kramer, MD; Venkat Pasnoori, MD; and Rajendran Sabapathy, MD. All four physicians are board-certified cardiologists and will provide full coverage for patient care and consultations. Liberty Cardiovascular Specialists’ office is located in the Doctors Office Building on the Liberty Hospital campus. The group joins Demetrios Maragos, MD, and James McGraw, MD, two cardiologists with Advanced Cardiovascular Specialists, currently remain on the Liberty Hospital medical staff.

June - September 2009

Phase two of construction begins. The hospital completes demolition on the carpenter building as well as the old MRI building to make room for the expansion. The oxygen tanks get upgraded and relocated to a new area. Demolition begins on receiving lot behind surgery. Work begins on the foundation of the new heart center.

October 2009

The first phase of construction on the Liberty Regional Heart and Vascular Center will be complete. The Cardiac Catherization Laboratory (Cath Lab) is to be upgraded to a flat-plane, high-resolution digital imaging system, which allows for greater contrast resolution, higher definition of vascular blockages and better visualization of the small cardiac stents on the market. The new open-heart surgery suite is also to be completed.

November 2009

The second phase of construction continues. Phase two will feature two open-heart surgery suites as well as an additional cath lab. The hospital is also planning for future growth and plans to leave unfinished space in the Surgery Department for additional operating rooms. Phase two should be completed by late 2010.

December 2009

Liberty Hospital to perform its first open-heart surgery.