Business & Tech

Where Does Lankenau's Focus on the Heart Leave Bryn Mawr Hospital?

It is unknown how the new heart pavilion will impact cardiac care at Bryn Mawr Hospital, which recently announced an intention to move its cardiac surgical procedures to Lankenau.

By Sam Strike

Lankenau Hospital’s new five-story, 274,000-square-foot Heart Pavilion—located on the hospital’s Wynnewood campus—opened this week.

The center, which is the center of the hospital’s $465 million master facility project, will provide area heart patients a wide assortment diagnostic and treatment services—all under one roof.

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It is unknown how the new project will impact cardiac care at Bryn Mawr Hospital, which recently announced plans to move its cardiac surgical procedures to Lankenau.

Last month, leaders of Main Line Health and Bryn Mawr Hospital told Radnor Township officials that they have decided to postpone their decision to move cardiothoracic surgeries to Lankenau. Although one Radnor commissioner told Radnor Patch that they believe it is a fait accompli.

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The decision will be moved to next summer at the earliest, according to the township.

“Our clinical and administrative leadership is studying each and every type of cardiac surgical procedure to determine the feasibility of continuing to provide these surgical procedures at the Bryn Mawr Hospital campus and under what circumstances the patient should be transferred to our sister facility, Lankenau Medical Center," reads part of a letter sent earlier this year to Radnor Township from Bryn Mawr Hospital.

According to Main Line Media News, Radnor Township Commissioner John Nagle said in May that he was concerned about travel time to Lankenau from Radnor Township and about the continued availability of the Emergency Room.

And he's not alone. The newspaper reports that "several Bryn Mawr hospital doctors came forward at the [May Board of Health] meeting and told the board that they oppose any move to move cardiac surgery from the hospital..."

Lankenau Hospital’s Heart Pavilion

Main Line Health communications director Bridget Therriault said the space will allow Lankenau's cardiology staff to more closely coordinate their efforts.

“The groups already collaborate on patient cases, but [in the new pavilion] they’re physically at such a close distance that it makes the collaboration all the richer.”

Therriault said, by way of example, that a patient could visit his or her cardiologist in one room and then, if necessary, see his or her surgical team just down the hall.

“Patients can travel [in the center] with ease,” Therriault added. “The whole building is designed around the patient, to make it more accessible.”

The first two floors of the building are home to the Lankenau Heart Group while the top three floors house inpatient rooms.

Among the other amenities of the center boasts are a new ICU, 44 exam rooms, a cardiac research program, and some of the most advanced diagnostic equipment available.


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