Local heart patient: “They said I’m a miracle”
Published: November 23, 2006
Randall Shovan is convinced he wouldn’t be alive today if it weren’t for the resources and superior cardiac care he received at LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport.
Shovan, 45, suffered a massive heart attack in his Shreveport home in September, which was aggravated by a six-hour delay in contacting authorities. He survived with the help of 20 physicians, a triple bypass procedure, a pacemaker and a defibrillator.
LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport is providing some of the best heart care in the country, according to a Gannett News Service study.
“I should be dead,” he said. “They said I’m a miracle. I’m glad I came to the LSU medical center. A real plus is all the knowledge they have here working on you. I would most rather come here than any other hospital in the world.”
In addition to the number of minds the facility brings to bear with each patient, Shovan also praised the medical center’s thorough approach to physical therapy and to its discharging policy.
“They don’t want their miracle patient to get out of here if there’s something still wrong with him,” he said.
Shovan’s story is just one of many nationwide.
Kim Miller, a 48-year-old single mom and businesswoman in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., thought through her hospital choice, despite being in the throes of an attack.
Doubled over with chest pains and nausea “” symptoms of a heart attack “” Miller had two hospitals to choose from in her hometown one night in December 2003, as she telephoned a friend for a ride to the emergency room.
One of the hospitals, Vassar Brothers, is the city’s heart center and performs cardiac surgery.
“I knew that Vassar has the cardiac center,” said Miller, who directed her friend to drive her to that hospital, rather than the emergency room at St. Francis Hospital.
In 2004-05, Vassar Brothers performed above the state and national medians for providing correct care to heart attack patients, and earned five stars in the GNS analysis for landing in the top category nationally and within New York state.
The other hospital, St. Francis, performed below the medians and earned one star.
Miller is happy about her choice and the treatment she received at Vassar Brothers. But St. Francis President and CEO Bob Savage said it wouldn’t have made a difference if she had chosen his hospital instead.
“All hospitals really can treat an acute myocardial infarction, a heart attack. The difference in Vassar Brothers and St. Francis at this point is they do have the cardiac catheterization lab, and cardiac catheterization is the ultimate diagnostic tool.”
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