NorthBay Opens First Advanced Cardiovascular Operating Room in Solano County

NorthBay Opens First Advanced Cardiovascular Operating Room in Solano County

NorthBay Medical Center’s new $4.6 million cardiovascular operating room recently received state licensing approval, announced Kathy Richerson, chief nursing officer.

That paved the way for the first surgery, which occurred in mid-April. The state-of-the-art surgical suite, twice the size of a normal operating room, is just part of NorthBay Heart & Vascular Center, which is the only provider of advanced cardiac care, including open-heart surgery, in Solano County.

“Solano County will no longer be without life-saving, advanced cardiac care,” explained Gary Passama, president and chief executive officer of NorthBay Healthcare, the locally based non-profit organization that also operates NorthBay VacaValley Hospital in Vacaville.

“It truly is absurd for a growing region this size – with an aging population that will need these services more than ever – to be without top-quality heart and vascular services,” Passama added.

It is estimated that about 1,400 local patients each year travel outside the county to other hospitals for cardiac care. The time and distance is often a matter of life and death.

The surgical suite is a centerpiece of NorthBay Heart & Vascular Center, a new program four years in planning and development.

The program brings to Solano County a host of services to be offered locally for the first time, including coronary artery bypass, heart valve repair and replacement, and advanced aortic procedures, including the thoracic aorta and peripheral vascular procedures.

NorthBay Heart & Vascular Center will incorporate the latest surgical techniques, including so-called “beating heart surgery,” during which the surgeon repairs a heart while it continues to pump blood to the body.

Minimally invasive vein harvesting is another specialty to be performed at NorthBay Medical Center. These new techniques, available only in advanced facilities and at the hands of cardiovascular surgeons with specialized training and experience, will result in fewer complications, smaller scars and shorter hospital stays for patients.

The new center represents a huge step forward in care and a significant financial investment for such a modestly sized, two hospital system such as NorthBay Healthcare.

Two of the region’s top surgeons, Dr. Ramzi Deeik and Dr. Robert Klingman Jr., were tapped by NorthBay to partner in developing the cardiac surgery program. They served as consultants in the design and construction of the heart surgery program, as well as the new operating room.

After dismantling two existing operating rooms to construct a single state-of-the-art surgical suite, NorthBay Healthcare possesses a “fully integrated” operating room, explained Dr. Deeik.

The room will be electronically connected to other areas of the hospital, such as radiology and the laboratory. Digital images (X-rays, MRI and CT scans) taken before surgery can be pulled up from files and viewed on the room’s high-definition TV monitors.

“The information is right there at our fingertips,” said Dr. Deeik.

“The community need was clear,” according to Deborah Sugiyama, president of NorthBay Healthcare Group, the entity that operates the two hospitals.

“Sending patients outside the county for care always delays treatment,” she noted. “You must first stabilize the patient, then arrange transportation and hospital admission. For some patients, that delay can be life threatening. Instead, we committed to developing a first-rate heart center, right here, in our community.”