(WILMINGTON, Del. – June 24, 2019)

Christiana Care Health System’s Center for Heart & Vascular Health is incorporating innovative technology and enhancing the patient experience with the opening of its new Hybrid Operating Room (OR) that combines surgery and advanced imaging systems.

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“We are committed to providing our patients with the right care, at the right time, in the right place,” said Kirk Garratt, M.D., MSc., Christiana Care’s John H. Ammon Chair of Cardiology and medical director of the Center for Heart & Vascular Health. “This new, highly sophisticated operating room is equipped with state-of-the-art technology for use in minimally invasive structural heart procedures, which are the future path for treating many heart conditions less invasively. It will also support innovative hybrid, robotic and other advanced surgeries.  These procedures reduce the risk of complications, length of hospital stay and patient recovery time.”

The Hybrid OR is in the Gerret and Tatiana Copeland Heart & Vascular Interventional Suites, recently dedicated in honor of the Copelands, who have given more than $3.5 million to the Center for Heart & Vascular Health to fund innovative technology.

“Hybrid operating rooms combine all the traditional elements of an operating room with the advanced imaging capabilities of an interventional suite,” said Wasif A. Qureshi, M.D., FACC, FSCAI, medical director of the Structural Heart Disease Program at Christiana Care. “It provides operators the flexibility to seamlessly transition between surgical and catheter-based treatments during the same procedure, eliminating the need to move a patient or schedule multiple procedures to address a patient’s complex needs.”

Opened in 2005, the Christiana Care Center for Heart & Vascular Health is the only center in the region that integrates cardiac surgery, vascular surgery, vascular interventional radiology, cardiology and interventional nephrology in a single location and under one roof.

New options for heart failure care in Wilmington

The Hybrid OR is the latest in a series of heart-focused, patient-centered enhancements at Christiana Care. Last month, the Wilmington Cardiology Care unit opened at Christiana Care’s Wilmington Hospital, offering coordinated, streamlined care for patients with cardiac diagnoses in the greater Wilmington community. The unit provides care for a range of cardiac conditions, including heart failure, at Wilmington Hospital, reducing the need for transfers to Christiana Hospital.  The goal is to let patients receive needed care closer to home.

“For many people who live in the city of Wilmington, having high-quality heart care close to home makes a tremendous difference,” Dr. Garratt said. “It allows families to be together with their loved ones during care, and lets spouses or caregivers better balance the needs of being with their loved one in the hospital and meeting their obligations at home and work. We are committed to delivering care to our Wilmington neighbors in ways that provide them with the best possible experience.”

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About ChristianaCare

Headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, ChristianaCare is one of the country’s most dynamic health care organizations, centered on improving health outcomes, making high-quality care more accessible and lowering health care costs. ChristianaCare includes an extensive network of primary care and outpatient services, home health care, urgent care centers, three hospitals (1,430 beds), a freestanding emergency department, a Level I trauma center and a Level III neonatal intensive care unit, a comprehensive stroke center and regional centers of excellence in heart and vascular care, cancer care and women’s health. It also includes the pioneering Gene Editing Institute.

ChristianaCare is nationally recognized as a great place to work, rated by Forbes as the 2nd best health system for diversity and inclusion, and the 29th best health system to work for in the United States, and by IDG Computerworld as one of the nation’s Best Places to Work in IT. ChristianaCare is rated by Healthgrades as one of America’s 50 Best Hospitals and continually ranked among the nation’s best by U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek and other national quality ratings. ChristianaCare is a nonprofit teaching health system with more than 260 residents and fellows. With its groundbreaking Center for Virtual Health and a focus on population health and value-based care, ChristianaCare is shaping the future of health care.

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