A Boost for The Beating Heart of Lake County

UH Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute deepens footprint with new vascular suite

UH Harrington Heart & Vascular Update | July/August 2023

The expanding footprint of UH Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute in Lake County includes a new Chief of Cardiovascular Medicine and a new vascular suite at UH Lake West Medical Center.

Paul Zellers, DO, FACC

Paul Zellers, DO, FACC, an interventional cardiologist with the Lake Health Physician Group/Northeast Ohio Heart Associates for the past seven years, will now lead Cardiovascular Medicine. Dr. Zellers has been Director of the Chest Pain Center there since 2020.

“I am incredibly grateful for this opportunity to lead this team of extraordinary physicians as we expand our cardiovascular service line with Harrington HVI to provide high quality and comprehensive cardiovascular care to Lake County,” said Dr. Zellers. “As we align with Harrington HVI it provides us with a great opportunity to offer our patients better access to specialists, diagnostic testing and advanced therapies within our community.”

Vascular surgeon Woosup Michael Park, MD, shared an example of the efficiencies in expediting care through the expanding capabilities of UH Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute at UH Lake West, where a new vascular suite recently opened. In an investment of more than $750,000, the suite offers noninvasive testing, including duplex and physiological testing across the full spectrum of vascular studies.

A patient who had suffered a stroke was found to have a blockage of his right carotid artery. The man recovered from his symptoms and was sent home. After discharge, he was referred to Natalie Evans, MD, a vascular medicine physician and medical director for Harrington HVI’s regional vascular laboratories, who recognized that the man had a small window of time to reduce his risk of recurrent, potentially disabling or fatal stroke with revascularization.

The man was referred to the new Vascular Center at UH Lake West Medical Center, which is a component of an expanding Harrington HVI footprint in Northeast Ohio. He was confirmed to have a blockage that was surgically accessible and was scheduled for an eversion endarterectomy two days later at UH Lake West. In this procedure, the plaque is removed from the artery by rolling back the artery away from the plaque. The patient’s stroke risk was substantially reduced, Dr. Park said.

“A carotid endarterectomy remains a gold standard procedure in the toolbox of vascular surgeons in stroke prevention,” said Dr. Park, who was named Medical Director of Vascular Services for UH Lake West on June 1. “While the new office is beautiful and convenient to many of my patients living in Lake County and beyond, it and the hospital are only as good as the people working there. Harrington HVI offers truly integrated care across specialties with world class specialists committed to collaboration.

“If the patient was not a candidate for surgery, we still have minimally invasive options available. All of these are offered for our patients closer to home in Lake County and beyond.”

Pablo Ruda Vega, MD Harrington HVI Lake West surgery.

With Harrington HVI at UH Lake West, a broader range of cardiac surgeries also are available, including minimally invasive bypass surgery advanced atrial fibrillation surgery, mitral valve repairs and aortic aneurysm repairs, said cardiac surgeon Pablo Ruda Vega, MD.

“Even more than the volume of patients is the complexity of the surgeries we can perform,” said Dr. Ruda Vega, who performs surgeries at UH Parma and UH Elyria in addition to UH Lake West.

These physicians appreciate being part of Harrington HVI.

“As physicians we are just as excited to be a part of such a strong and collegial institution that is Harrington HVI, and we look forward to building a Cardiovascular Center of Excellence in our community that we as well as our patients can be proud of,” Dr. Zellers said.