If you’re typical, your heart beats 60 to 80 times a minute: about 100,000 times a day. Missing a beat can spell trouble. “Time is muscle” goes the medical adage. When the heart is in jeopardy, delayed treatment can mean damaged muscle. For heart attack victims, that’s a step closer to heart failure.

That’s why the Wilson N. Jones Regional Medical Center (WNJ) cardiac care team provides comprehensive, technologically sophisticated cardiac treatment. We believe the people in our service area should have prompt access to the most advanced treatment possible. Because saved time is saved muscle. And sometimes, saved lives.

Learn more about the services provided by our Cardiac Care Center below.

Cardiac catheterization, or angiography, is a minimally invasive surgical procedure that lets cardiologists identify blockages in the heart’s surrounding arteries, as well as testing its valve functions and pumping action. The procedure is short – from 10 to 30 minutes – and usually involves only mild pain or discomfort. Most patients can go home the same day or the next day.

In cardiac catheterization, a catheter (thin tube) is inserted through the arm or groin into the femoral artery and is guided slowly to the heart. Contrast dye allows x-ray imaging to show blockages and abnormities, which indicate problem areas and appropriate procedures.

There are different procedures for treating different situations, but two of the most common are angioplasty (for arterial blockage) and stenting. In both cases, a balloon-tipped catheter is inserted and then inflated in the problem areas. Inflating the balloon usually clears the vessel of the most severe blockages, and the stent will help keep the vessel from re-narrowing.

At WNJ, cardiac catheterization is performed by a cardiologist assisted by a nurse and a team of medical technicians with years of cardiac experience.

The Best in Life Support Care

Whether patients require intensive care from unexpected emergencies or scheduled surgeries, our intensive care units provide the best possible care for patients in extreme medical situations.

Both our MICU (Medical Intensive Care Unit) and SICU (Surgical Intensive Care Unit) provide round-the-clock monitoring and life support care by a staff trained and experienced in critical care needs. Both units are staffed with either one nurse to one patient or one nurse to two patients, depending on the patients’ acuities and a physician who is always available for immediate response.

The principal differences between these units are their functions. MICUs provide care not only to patients suffering cardiac emergencies, but from wounds, constricted airways, severe burns and other situations where survival is at risk. SICUs treat patients in the hours following surgery, the time of greatest risk. Besides heart surgery patients, SICUs treat post-surgery patients from other major operations.

Our MICU and SICU units provide critical care at critical times. When a life is in the balance, our intensive care teams are absolutely committed to keeping that balance in their patient’s favor.

Operating Rooms

WNJ’s operating rooms are the hospital’s vital repair center. Here broken bones are fixed, organs mended, tumors removed and, not infrequently, lives saved. Advances in medical technology have in many cases greatly improved and sometimes revolutionized surgical procedures. Yet any operating room, however up-to-date, is only as good as its surgeon and team.

WNJ’s surgeons are second to none, with the training and skill that North Texas families deserve. They’re backed by experienced surgical teams that include:

•     Anesthesia department consisting of Anesthesiologist and Nurse Anesthetist
•     Surgical assistant (sometimes called a scrub nurse) who directly assists the surgeon
•     Circulating nurse who coordinates team members and assists wherever necessary

Depending on the surgery, other nurses and medical assistants assist the core team. For surgeries requiring sophisticated technology, specially trained technicians monitor and operate the equipment.

Whatever their job, each member of the team, from surgeon to technician, functions as part of a single smoothly functioning unit committed to the welfare of the most important person in the room: their patient.

Treatment of heart disease doesn’t end with angiography or surgery. Our cardiac rehabilitation program is designed to help patients continue their recovery. This means not only the weeks afterward but for the rest of their lives.

At our rehab facility, heart patients learn the cardiac exercises that will build heart strength and flexibility with exercise machines such as treadmills, recumbent steppers and old-fashioned standards like weights and calisthenics. Cardiac trained nurses monitor each patient’s heartbeat, blood pressure and other signs while guiding them to maximum effort. Nurses also help patients set up home exercise programs so that heart building can continue outside the hospital.