Bringing state-of-the-art healthcare to Florida heart patients
The Naples Comprehensive Health (NCH) Rooney Heart Institute is making strides to transform its center into what it hopes will become a national-level cardiac care location in Southwest Florida. The institute is building a state-of-the-art heart hospital, investing in new technology and hiring notable doctors to establish itself as a premier destination for heart health.
"We're building a heart center, a heart tower, and with it, we've recruited wonderful people. So I think that in the years to come, you're going to be hearing a lot from the Rooney Heart Institute in Naples. We're involved in a lot of the clinical trials and have been actively enrolling patients and treating patients in our region with valvular disease, structural disease, and other things," explained Robert Cubeddu, MD, director of structural hart and president of the NCH Rooney Heart Institute.
With Florida’s large retiree population, the demand for high-quality cardiac care is pressing. Despite this, few Florida heart centers rank among the nation’s top programs. The Rooney Heart Institute seeks to change that by assembling a team of top-tier specialists from across the country.
"No different than what other top programs do in America, the recipe is relatively simple. You got to invest in the right DNA and build a comprehensive program. And with that, not just the structural heart program, but we've hired for EP, interventional, cardiac surgery, imaging and heart failure. And the idea is to be able to deliver from A to Z, everything that revolves around cardiac care," Cubeddu said.
The center has invested education and in research and started cardiology fellowship program. He said they went from involvement in zero clinical trials just a few years ago to being involved in more than 40 today.
Last fall, the center hired multimodality imager Dee Dee Wang, MD, from Henry Ford Hospital as its new section head for cardiac imaging.
"It's really about building a center of excellence, a destination center for patients who want care at home of quality, top-notch level. And bringing the talent together is an opportunity that you just cannot pass off. It's almost like a startup feeling," Wang explained. "It really is empowering physicians to operate at their maximal skill level, and that's an opportunity that you don't have very often in the world."
NCH is constructing a five-story heart center will centralize inpatient and outpatient cardiac services, incorporating the latest imaging technologies, advanced procedural labs, and hybrid operating rooms. It will include dedicated cardiac photon-counting CT scanners and a 3D lab.
Dave Fornell has covered healthcare for more than 17 years, with a focus in cardiology and radiology. Fornell is a 5-time winner of a Jesse H. Neal Award, the most prestigious editorial honors in the field of specialized journalism. The wins included best technical content, best use of social media and best COVID-19 coverage. Fornell was also a three-time Neal finalist for best range of work by a single author. He produces more than 100 editorial videos each year, most of them interviews with key opinion leaders in medicine. He also writes technical articles, covers key trends, conducts video hospital site visits, and is very involved with social media. E-mail: [email protected]