Solano’s Northbay Healthcare to open heart program

Solano’s Northbay Healthcare to open heart program
Fairfield center will be only facility in county providing advanced care
by D. Ashley Furness
Staff Reporter
June 28, 2008

FAIRFIELD – Northbay Healthcare of Solano recently began more than $10 million in planning for what will be the county’s only facility offering advanced cardiac care.

Administrators began development of the Northbay Heart & Vascular Program about two years ago, but President and Chief Executive Officer Gary Passama said he dreamed of having something of this caliber in Solano for a number of decades.

“For the last 20 years, we have deliberated, debated and dreamed of this day,” Mr. Passama said at the press conference announcing the nonprofit’s plan.

“It truly is ridiculous for a growing region this size – with an aging population that will need these services more than ever – to be without top-quality advanced cardiovascular surgery services,” he said.

The project at the group’s Northbay Medical Center in Fairfield includes $3.6 million in renovations and expansions to the current catheterization lab and almost $5 million to transform two operating rooms into one, 8,000-square-foot cardiac surgical suite.

The group, which operates another hospital in Vacaville and other medical facilities around the county, hired New York program director Diana Sullivan to prepare for the center, which includes $1 million for 50 staff members to receive an additional 12,000 hours of training.

“When we started this project we wanted to identify key benchmarks for success,” said Ms. Sullivan. “We found about 50 key elements, but one that stands out and above all else, is excellent outcomes.”

Most recently, the seasoned program director developed the heart institute at the 1,368-bed Beth Israel Hospital in New York, and she has in her history taken a lead in 10 successful programs.

“I was looking for a challenging opportunity and this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance. … It’s not the kind of job that just grows on trees,” she said. “I am very excited to be a part of it.”

Northbay’s hospital and other facilities in Solano have had the ability to treat heart attack patients in the past, but they have always been transferred out of the county if more serious surgery was required. Mr. Passama said currently about 1,400 patients are turned away in a year.

The hospital’s present 3,800-square-foot cath lab is limited mostly to diagnostic services, but the renovations will allow it to perform interventional procedures using heart stents and other devices.

The new surgical suite will include high-definition monitors, state-of-the-art equipment and teleconference capabilities so doctors in other areas can watch and learn from procedures.

Construction of the site kicked off last month, and the first services have a projected start date sometime in spring 2009.

Northbay signed an exclusive contract with Drs. Ramzi Deeik and Robert Klingman, who will perform the surgeries in the heart center, splitting their time with Queen of the Valley Medical Center of Napa.

Ms. Sullivan projected the center will serve about 80 patients in the first year, 200 in the next and 300 by the third and fourth years.