The Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at Good Samaritan Hospital in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, moved from the antiquated first floor 1-lab unit to the ground floor of the new south wing in December of 2004. Our new department has two state-of-the-art labs and a 9-bay prep/recovery area. We have made many improvements, such as leaping from processing cine films with 10-year-old GE X-ray equipment to digital imaging on our new GE Innova Flat Screen system. In addition, we have new interventional equipment and increased our staff from 5 to 15 trained personnel.

Our staff members consist of registered nurses and cardiovascular technologists. Our present staff includes Geoff MacMurray, Cardiology Services Manager, Megan Brevoort, secretary/scheduler, Amanda DesRosiers RT(R), RCIS, Rachel Bottomstone CVT, Erika Campbell CVT, Stephany Yoder RCIS, Kristy Schultz RTR-M, RCIS, Dougie Hollis CVT, Kathleen Nissley CVT, Alicia Wike RN, Jen Hemperly RN, Nicole Neidig RN, Kathy Yarnall RN per diem and our prep/recovery staff, Dwight Landis RN and Keith May RN. The Lebanon Cardiology Associate physicians who work with us are our interventional cardiologists, Dr. Griffin, Cath Lab Medical Director, Dr. Collier and Dr. Saraiya. Dr. Clemens, Dr. Boogaard and Dr. Glick are our diagnostic cardiologists.

Our two new labs are spacious and beautiful, with all the finest equipment to better serve our community. We presently use AngioJet® (Possis Medical, Inc., Minneapolis, MN) intracoronary vascular ultrasound, and Rotablator (Boston Scientific Corp., Maple Grove, MN), in addition to doing coronary and peripheral angioplasty and stenting. We offer the latest developments in bare metal and drug-eluting stents (DES). Our new cardiovascular information system allows us to benchmark ourselves, along with major heart centers around the country, through the American College of Cardiology.

In February of 2005, we started doing peripheral interventions with Dr. Saraiya, including renal, superficial femoral, iliac arteries and more. We were all sent to Pinnacle Health System in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, for complex training prior to our interventional start-up. We also began offering coronary interventions 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on June 13th, 2005, and have already completed over 250 coronary intervention procedures.

A career in the cardiac cath lab is ever-changing, and new technology, introduced daily, challenges us to be our best.

Submitted by:
Geoff MacMurray, Manager Cardiology Services
Cardiac & Vascular Center, Good Samaritan Health System
Lebanon, Pennsylvania