The Heart Center at Torresdale
Heart-to-heart care in the most advanced surroundings.
Its location, its facilities and, most of all, its staff – that’s what makes Frankford’s Heart Center at Torresdale a truly
rare resource for patients. Having top-level technology, expertise, and design in a community location gives us an ability
to deliver the highest-quality care close to home.
The Center
Our cardiac services enjoy the use of a new heart center, located on the 2nd Floor of the Pavilion Building at the Frankford Torresdale campus . This important improvement brings Frankford patients 30,000 square feet of the most up-to-date, attractive, and user-friendly
accommodations available anywhere.
The center’s state-of-the-science clinical features include:
• three cardiac-catheterization laboratories with the latest options (including dual-plane imaging from each control room)
for nonsurgical, diagnosis and interventional treatments of such conditions at coronary artery disease, valve conditions, and heart-wall defects;
• two advanced electrophysiology laboratories for minimally invasive treatment of heart rhythm conditions;
• two of the most modern operating rooms for heart surgery (including a 900-square-foot O.R. with the SKYTRON® SkyVision system, which permits two-way video conferencing of surgical
procedures);
• seven coronary-care-unit beds for intensive, inpatient care of heart patients;
• and a 14-bed preoperative and recovery unit for patients undergoing interventional or surgical procedures.
An Accredited Chest Pain Center.
What Does it Mean?
The Heart Center at Torresdale is an Accredited Chest Pain Center (ACPC), a designation provided by the Society of Chest Pain
Centers. This qualification means more than that just a scoring of quality has taken place at heart centers that have it:
It means that a process-improvement initiative is ongoing throughout the center’s cardiac services to optimize patient care.
Among other criteria, the rigorous program that results in ACPC designation assures that patients:
• undergo testing according to the latest standards;
• receive the most current drug therapies;
• benefit from thorough education about their condition at the hospital and before discharge;
• and have the benefit of lifestyle and self-care counseling.
ACPCs must demonstrate excellence in their emergency departments, in assessing patients, in their facilities, in their personnel,
in their continuous improvement, and in community outreach.
Research has shown that ACPC-designated, heart-care services see more patients with acute myocardial infarction (heart attack)
and perform better on quality measures in caring for this condition than nonaccredited hospitals. In addition, the studies
have shown that accredited Chest Pain Centers deliver better quality care for heart failure.
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Choosing to have their cardiac procedures performed at Frankford enables patients to avoid having to travel long distances
to receive medical care. It also allows them to stay at a hospital that they are familiar with – one where their personal,
heart-care physicians are on staff and where these doctors can continue overseeing their case. Having all this in a non-center-city
location means less transit and readier access to care in a hospital that is also easier for friends and family to visit.
The Staff
Our staff is made up of well-respected, established, thoroughly experienced and trained medical professionals who have dedicated
their careers to delivering the best in heart care. These experts, some of whom have trained at the top centers in the world,
have the latest skills, offer access to research efforts, and make special techniques available to patients who need them.
At Frankford, patients gain care and quality-enriched service in a true teaching environment. Graduate medical education
at the heart center means that interns from, and residents who have graduated from, top medical colleges add a depth to the
staff and the care delivered. What’s more, physicians who are completing their postgraduate training with a fellowship in
cardiology significantly complement the staff. Our accomplished medical staffers provide the knowledge to educate and train
physicians at Frankford and at other hospitals, including through their faculty medical-school and health-professions appointments.
The Care
This busy and growing program is not just a recourse for its community but for a broader region of patients seeking a top-level
experience in patient care. The Heart Center at Torresdale receives referral from well-known centers that do not have all
of the components and infrastructure assembled for their programs in the way that our heart center does.
And our staff members combine their technical know-how for the most sophisticated treatments but deliver their services always
with an emphasis, first and foremost, on the fundamentals of good patient care. The patient experience is a priority. At
the Heart Center at Torresdale, this experience includes a very high level of continuity, as each patient receives care from
committed staff that knows his or her case as an outpatient or inpatient or both. Finally, the strength of our ongoing follow-up
with our heart patients contributes as well to our consistently high satisfaction levels.
The center opened with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on November 30, 2007.
