San Benito Already Being Served by Cardiologists
San Benito Already Being Served by Cardiologists
Editor,
I am obligated to respond to Alice Joy’s piece in the Feb. 28 Free Lance, “Hazel Hawkins Welcomes Cardiologist.”
The brash assertion that San Benito County was not previously “served by a cardiologist” is a distortion and merits correction for the record.
I have conducted a full-time cardiology practice in Hollister since 1993 and am board-certified in cardiovascular disease and voluntarily re-certified in 2003.
Dr. Martin Bress has also attended cardiac patients in his practice for a number of years.
Finally, a number of cardiologists from out of the area have served the community on an itinerant basis, some of whom are listed on the hospital’s Web site (www.hazelhawkins.com).
Additionally, comments attributed to the public relations director for the hospital suggest that patients who would have been sent to other hospitals in the past will now be able to obtain acute cardiac care locally.
In reality, an abundance of international research and current national guidelines suggest that patients with acute coronary syndromes have better odds of survival when transferred immediately to cardiovascular specialists in high-volume cardiac centers that can provide emergency invasive cardiac studies, when the intervention can be made within 90 minutes of original presentation.
In addition to the excellent care already provided by the emergency department at Hazel Hawkins the hospital should focus its energy on sustaining a coordinated system to effect the rapid transfer of this group of patients rather than attempting to hold onto them out of a misplaced sense of community pride.
James W. Egan Jr., MD, FACC
Hollister
