Heart disease is relentless. But so is the cardiovascular lab team at Carroll Hospital.
“We get calls in the middle of the night, on the weekends, and we drop everything to come in,” says Ashley Keating, manager of the cardiovascular labs at Carroll Hospital. “To know that we can save someone’s life in those moments is a wonderful thing. It gives us purpose.”
The team is responsible for performing a wide variety of life-saving cardiac procedures, including emergency angioplasty to restore blood flow for patients in cardiac arrest and elective angioplasty, which can help prevent heart attacks for high-risk patients.
“Our team works exceptionally well together, but it’s just as important to have top-of-the-line technology,” says Ashley. “And we’re very thankful that investing in technology is a priority at Carroll Hospital.”
Case in point: last year, Carroll Hospital made a big investment in what’s been dubbed “the world’s smallest heart pump:” the Impella CP®. The Impella CP stabilizes the most critically ill cardiac patients, including those in cardiogenic shock and those requiring resuscitation or surgical intervention in order to survive.
“For patients who need it, the Impella CP can be the difference between life and death,” says Ashley. “It allows us to get them stabilized, and it gives them a chance to see their grandchildren again.”
The Impella CP is not the only new addition. In September, the hospital’s first of three cardiovascular labs underwent a state-of-the-art renovation, complete with a GE Innova® image guidance system that provides crystal-clear imaging quality while also lowering radiation dosing by as much as 75 percent.
“The difference in imaging is night and day,” Ashley explains. “During angioplasty procedures, for example, it allows us to size and position the stents with next-level precision.” Both the GE Innova and the Impella CP were made possible by the hospital’s unrestricted giving fund. In unrestricted giving, donors do not designate how their gifts should be used, thus enabling Carroll Hospital to spend the money where it’s needed most.
“Without our donors and our community, our team wouldn’t be able to deliver the level of care that we do. We wouldn’t have the technology,” says Ashley. “It’s a privilege to have this technology. We don’t take it for granted.”
Powered by state-of-the-art technology—and the community generosity that funds it—this team is making sure critically ill patients can live to tell another tale.
“Without our donors and our community, our team wouldn’t be able to deliver the level of care that we do. We wouldn’t have the technology,” says Ashley. “It’s a privilege to have this technology. We don’t take it for granted.”
From the 2021 Carroll Hospital Annual Review
Pictured above: The cardiovascular team includes, from left to right, Mike Haines, staff nurse; Lorraine Pollard, staff nurse; Kelley Griffin, staff nurse; Ashley Keating, clinical nurse manager; Sarah Poole, cardiovascular technologist; Herb Johnson, cardiovascular technologist
