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Fall 2004
St. John’s Hospital opens vascular center
 St.
John’s opened a vascular center on the first floor of
St. John’s Hospital in August. The center serves as a coordination point
for the growing number of people in the Ozarks who have an often
undiagnosed, but dangerous condition called
peripheral vascular disease (PVD).
St. John’s interventional cardiologists, interventional radiologists,
cardiovascular surgeons and general vascular surgeons have teamed to
create a unique multidisciplinary approach to the treatment of this often
debilitating disease.
“The traditional lines of referral for vascular diseases use many
different specialists and we realized its benefits for the patient to
bring them together to best understand the population. Our approach allows
us to bring 12-15 highly trained sub- specialists to the playing field,”
says
Kelvin VanOsdol, M.D., St. John’s cardiovascular service line chair.
Patients may be referred to the vascular center by their primary care
physician, says Tom Talty, center director. The main goals of the center
include educating the health care and general communities about the
importance of early diagnosis and then assisting patients in seeking
treatment in a more coordinated way.
“The idea is to catch people on the borderline before they need major
intervention and then help them to modify their risks,” Talty says. Much
of this can be done through education before a referral to the vascular
center is necessary.
An advisory team of physicians representing multiple specialties meet
regularly to focus on early identification of at-risk individuals and plan
coordinated treatment approaches between cardiology, radiology and
surgery. These specialists work closely together to coordinate the
delivery of optimal and often cutting-edge technology to St. John’s
patients.
"PVD serves as a marker for heart attack and stroke, but the population is
so under-treated and undiagnosed. We're building on education for this
disease because most people would like to be treated medically before
needing bigger interventions,” Van Osdol says. "Ultimately patients
benefit greatly by bringing together specialists with their unique
expertise and excellence in treating patients with PVD. Our goal is total
vascular care for our patients and we think we accomplish this by our
dedicated, coordinated and cooperative approach.”
For more information about St. John’s Vascular Center, please call
417-820-3302.
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