The LVAD is being used as a bridge-to-cardiac transplantation while Moore waits for a donor heart to become available. Prior to his surgery, Moore had spent the last six months in bed. However, just ten days after being discharged from the hospital, Moore was soaring through the sky in his private plane.Alan Hartman, M.D., chairman of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery at NSUH, led the surgical team that implanted the device. He said that the purpose of the surgery, and the LVAD, is to give patients back a semblance of their normal lives."William Moore's recovery, and early return to his joy of flying, is a perfect illustration," Hartman said. Moore suffered his first heart attack in 1980 and, prior to surgery, he had been seen for heart failure on multiple occasions. The expected survival rate for someone as sick as Moore is about 50 percent. However, the LVAD has given Moore fresh hope. The small, 2-5 pound titanium device takes over the pumping function of the left ventricle, since his heart was too damaged to naturally produce blood flow. NSUH is currently the only facility on Long Island performing long-term LVAD procedures.
Mercy set for screening
Mercy Medical Center in Rockville Centre has been named as a Nassau County site for enrollment screening for Child/Family Health Plus and Medicaid. Child/Family Health Plus is comprehensive health coverage. Benefits include regular check-ups, vaccinations, vision care, prescription drugs, hospitalization, medical supplies, emergency care and dental services. This screening service will be offered on the first Thursday of every month from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Patient Access Department of the hospital, located at 1000 North Village Ave.All children are eligible for health insurance regardless of immigrant status. You do not have to have an income or job to qualify. However, one must meet the eligibility requirements in order to be considered for this insurance. For more information, call Catholic Charities at (631) 789-2839.
Back in to it
Chronic back pain affects thousands of Nassau County south shore residents. Dr. Alexandre B. de Moura, of the New York Spine Institute in Garden City, has introduced state-of-the-art disc replacement surgery in Mercy Medical Center's new operating suites.One of only a few doctors on Long Island trained in this new procedure, Dr. de Moura says this surgery is considered to be far more progressive than previous procedures with better results. It is a minimally invasive process and decreases post-operative pain. Researchers have found better post-operative results for the long term. In addition, because there is no fusion of the discs, the patient does not need to be mobilized in a brace.Dr. de Moura is a member of the North American Spine Society and the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. He holds a Fellowship where he trained in spinal surgery (both neurosurgery and orthopedic surgery) and holds certification from the American Board of Orthopedic Surgeons. He explained the benefits of the "partnership" in a press release."By working close with Mercy, we have created an operating environment where we can offer a type of surgery where there is less pain, shorter hospital stays and a far better expectation of results," he said. "This partnership is designed so that we can effectively address the chronic and debilitating pain found when discs in the lower back fail and patients need to recover their quality of life. Disc replacement saves adjacent levels of the spine by not immobilizing one level and forcing adjacent levels to support the resulting stresses."
