Twenty Years of Changing Lives
St. John's Hammons Heart Institute Celebrates 20th Anniversary

Twenty years of St. John’s Hammons Heart Institute’s services have proven that successful cardiac rehabilitation programs and related services lower death rates, improve patient outcomes, lower costs and facilitate a larger number of people returning to productive lives, according to St. John’s cardiologists.

The heart institute, home to St. John’s cardiac rehab program and multiple ancillary services, celebrates its 20th anniversary in February.

The facility’s services are an integral component of St. John’s nationally recognized heart program.

“Not all heart programs are created equal. St. John's has earned the reputation of an outstanding cardiac hospital through its ability to successfully manage and treat all kinds of cardiac patients, from simple cardiac evaluations to high-risk coronary interventional procedures and complex cardiovascular, surgical cases,” says cardiologist Ronnie Smalling, M.D. “We have a level of success in patient outcomes, patient volume and a level of cardiac experience that is unsurpassed in this region, this state and most of the nation.”

CARDIAC REHAB PROGRAM

St. John’s cardiac and pulmonary rehab programs began at Hammons Heart Institute in Springfield and now operate in satellite facilities across southwest Missouri and Arkansas, treating more than 3,000 patients a year.

“Not only do we have an outstanding, first-class rehab facility here, but we have taken the program throughout the southwest Missouri area. Patients receive superb care and rehabilitation, as well as additional education about their disease process. This empowers our cardiac patients to be involved to the highest degree in their ongoing, long-term cardiac care and prevention,” says cardiologist Kelvin Van Osdol, M.D.

In many areas, these rehab programs are placed in rural or smaller hospitals to provide the same services closer to patients' homes.

"The number of cardiac rehab visits per year is a reflection of the success we have enjoyed in this important treatment process," says Dr. Van Osdol. “Cardiac rehab is more than just a walk three times a week. Many of our patients who've had very difficult cardiac surgeries and have had heart attacks have actually gained the most out of the cardiac rehab programs and are now back at work leading a more healthy and productive lifestyle.“

Similar to the cardiac rehab program, St. John’s pulmonary rehabilitation program combines a personal, supervised exercise program with group education classes, individual evaluation and instruction.

St. John’s pulmonary rehab team includes respiratory therapists, registered nurses, exercise physiologists, a dietitian and a physical therapist. Additional consultation with a psychologist is also available as needed. Smoking cessation is encouraged and consultations are available.
“Currently, there is no known cure for chronic lung disease, but St. John’s outpatient pulmonary rehab program can help lung disease patients stay active,” says Susan Hansen, R.N., director of cardiopulmonary rehabilitation for St. John’s. “The program also teaches the causes of chronic lung disease, better breathing techniques, how exercise can help their condition, healthy eating, coping strategies, how to take medications and breathing treatments, easy ways of doing daily activities, how to use oxygen and how to have fun in their lives again.”

St. John’s has found that aggressive pulmonary rehabilitation can have the following benefits:

• increased exercise and activity tolerance
• increased independence and ability to perform routine daily activities
• improved feelings of hope and control
• decreased respiratory symptoms such as shortness of breath and fatigue
• decreased depression and anxiety
• decreased frequency and length of hospitalizations
• increased knowledge of lung disease and its treatment.

St. John’s Cardiac & Pulmonary Rehabilitation Locations

• St. John’s Hammons Heart Institute, Springfield
• St. John’s Clinic - West Kearney, Springfield
• St. John’s Clinic - Nixa
• St. John’s Hospital - Aurora
• St. John’s Hospital - Berryville
• St. John’s Hospital - Cassville
• St. John’s Hospital - Lebanon
• St. John’s Clinic - Monett
• St. John's St. Francis Hospital, Mountain. View
• St. John’s Clinic - St. Robert

Bev's Story

Bev Brake, 69, of Springfield, began cardiac rehab at Hammons after a heart attack last spring. She credits the quick action by St. John’s professionals across the system for saving her life. You may remember her from St. John’s television advertising campaign.

“I was just convinced that I wasn’t having a heart attack – I have a family history of cancer, not heart trouble, and I don’t have any of the risk factors. My LDL cholesterol was elevated, but that was it,” Brake says. “I went to a St. John’s urgent care, where they performed an EKG. They told me I was having a heart attack and called an ambulance, which took me to St. John’s Emergency Trauma Center, where I should have gone in the first place. I was treated in the cath lab by (cardiologist) Dr. Frank Kim, who, through an angiogram, discovered two blockages in my left coronary artery and inserted two stents. He told me the only reason I was still alive was because my heart had actually created its own bypasses to accommodate the blockages.”

Brake exercises at Hammons three days a week with the elliptical trainer, treadmill and weights and says she’s getting skilled at altering recipes to make them heart-healthy.
Since her heart attack, she has taken up ballroom dancing, something she had always wanted to do, but never made time for.

“I’m going to make the best possible life for myself with the time I have left to live it,” she says. “My heart attack has given me the reason to take my health more seriously, to do the things I want to do and say no to some of the things I really don’t want to do.”

St. John’s Women’s Heart Center

Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women, yet most women are more concerned about breast cancer and other female cancers. Women exhibit different symptoms before and during a heart attack than men, but few recognize the warning signs.

For these reasons, St. John’s in 2004 opened a women’s heart center in St. John’s Hammons Heart Institute. The center educates Ozarks women about heart health with a focus on prevention and is part of St. John’s cardiopulmonary rehabilitation program.

“We see this center as a partnership with our physicians to educate women about heart disease. Women can self-refer to St. John’s Women’s Heart Center, or be referred by their physician,” says the center’s Clinical Coordinator Sheila Bowen, R.N. “We offer risk assessments with instant results. St. John’s Women’s Heart Center staff then discuss the results during one-on-one consultations with patients and make recommendations regarding nutrition, exercise and stress management, then track patients’ outcomes.”

Women tend to wait significantly longer than men to seek medical attention when suffering a heart attack, which can affect their outcome, Bowen says.

In addition to one-on-one consultations about heart health, the center offers yoga, wellness classes and heart-healthy cooking demonstrations.

ROAD TO FREEDOM TOBACCO CESSATION PROGRAM

Road to Freedom is a comprehensive tobacco cessation program that includes consultations with tobacco-cessation counselors, hot stone massages, biofeedback, auriculotherapy, and if indicated, may also include medication and nicotine replacement therapy such as patches or gum.

“The most important thing for a smoker, and especially someone who has had a heart event, to do for their health is to quit smoking immediately,” says Susan Blackard, R.N., vice president of St. John’s Hammons Heart Institute and Corporate Health & Wellness Services. “When we started the cardiac rehab program at St. John’s, we knew that tobacco cessation services absolutely needed to be part of that.”

The program focuses on making quitting tobacco as stress-free as possible.

“What I like most about Road to Freedom was the fact that they offer you so many tools to help you quit,” says client Pat Toney, 45, a data control analyst for Mercy Health Plans.

Aquatic Exercise Program

St. John’s has offered aquatic exercise at Hammons Heart Institute’s indoor pool since the facility opened as part of its Complementary Services program.
Aquatic exercise has been proven beneficial for people with osteoporosis, arthritis, diabetes, menopause, fibromyalgia, back problems, as well as pregnant women and aging adults.
Classes are open to all ages and are ongoing. Instructors are trained to follow the guidelines of the Aquatic Exercise Association and Arthritis Foundation.

Congestive Heart Failure Program

St. John's congestive heart failure program follows several hundred patients who have been diagnosed with CHF.

Patients receive education before being discharged from the hospital and then are called on a weekly to monthly basis once they return home. Educators follow blood pressure, daily weight, medication use and report them to the participants' physicians.

“We have followed our results and success over time and have demonstrated fewer hospital admissions for congestive heart failure than we previously had without the program,” says Dr. Van Osdol. “Our patients continue to complement us on our comprehensive program and educational services. Many of these CHF patients who have had extensive heart damage and who are very fragile in their heart failure symptoms, appreciate in particular, the intensive monitoring they receive through the program. Our program has been so successful that other hospitals have started and fashioned a CHF program like ours.”

New Images Weight Loss Program

New Images is a medically supervised weight loss program for the extremely overweight operated by dietitians, exercise physiologists and psychologists at St. John’s Hammons Heart Institute. Individual psychological consultations are available for each New Images participant, allowing staff to design customized treatment plans to meet the needs of each client.

John Nichols, 49, of Springfield, lost more than 150 pounds with the help of New Images.
“The hardest part of losing weight for me was the exercise component. I started with five minutes on the treadmill and slowly worked my way up. I eventually became able to exercise six days a week at Hammons Heart Institute and I always looked forward to it because it made me feel good,” he says.
Through New Images, Nichols learned about exercise and nutrition. He even got to the heart of his weight problem.

“I ate for emotional reasons, and I ate all of the wrong kinds of foods. I ate very few vegetables and I ate a lot of high-carbohydrate foods. Now I eat lots of vegetables and I’ve learned about portion control. You can satisfy a craving with just a taste of the food, rather than with a large amount of food,” Nichols says.

The Future of Heart Care at St. John’s

Heart disease claims more lives than any other illness. It accounts for approximately 30 percent of Missouri’s deaths annually.

St. John's does 6,000 total catheterization lab cases a year, of which 2,000 are cardiac interventional procedures. This makes St. John's one of the busiest hospitals in the state, and in the top tier of cardiac cath lab volumes in hospitals in the United States.

“Our physicians do anywhere from 250 to 1,000 interventional cases a year each. The average interventional cardiologist in America does about 75 interventions a year. Just like with anything else, you want your cardiologist to be well skilled in technique and have performed hundreds of the procedure he or she is going to do on your heart,” says Dr. Van Osdol.

To meet the community’s growing need for advanced heart care, St. John’s is planning a new $69 million state-of-the-art heart institute located on the north side of the St. John’s Hospital campus.
Devoted exclusively to heart and vascular care, the institute will be a four-level, 214,000 square-foot facility, located adjacent to St. John’s Emergency Trauma Center. The facility will connect to the main hospital where corresponding floors will lead to a cardiac intensive care unit, step-down unit and 92 patient rooms (six semiprivate and 80 private rooms). Completion is expected in 2011.

Plans for the new heart institute include:

• Eight catheterization laboratories
• Two electrophysiology laboratories
• Four operating rooms
• On-site physician offices
• Integrated emergency department facilities
• Chest pain evaluation unit
• Comprehensive inpatient and outpatient cardiovascular diagnostic services
• Educational resources, wellness programs and nutritional services
• Inpatient education and cardiac rehabilitation.