Published: February 01, 2008 09:53 am            

VIDEO: Tour the Heart Center of Niagara

NIAGARA FALLS —



The Heart Center of Niagara is not just another pretty building. Sure, it’s only a couple of years old and all open windows and fancy equipment, but the staff insists that the best thing it has going for it is what at the heart of the place — its caring staff and administrators, who have been known to walk patients to their cars and even pick them up at home.

“We all take our jobs to heart,” said Linda Curtis, coordinator of the center, which is a component of the Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center. Curtis has one sole objective — to make life easier for the patients and clients.

“We want to make the whole process a pleasant, easy experience,” she said.

Wayne Dennis, director of cardio-pulmonary services, is not above hunting down some Frank Sinatra tunes on the radio for the clients working out in the center’s rehab facility one Tuesday morning.

In two short years, the center and its staff have touched many lives. Last year, about 5,000 people were treated there with services that included five cardiologists, exercise physiologists, and a variety of heart testing services from a Positron Emission Tomography to a scanner that allows for non-invasive coronary angiograms, helping to avoid the risk or pain of more typical invasive angiograms.

Ed Rodgers of Lewiston, who had a heart attack about nine years ago while traveling in Las Vegas with his wife, was among the clients who working out in the rehab center on a recent Tuesdays

After his heart surgery, “I could only walk about a half-block,” Rodgers said. He confessed to constantly pushing himself to do better, so he is glad that staff is there to monitor his efforts.

“I love it,” he said. “I do a lot of traveling and I like to be able to walk ... If I don’t have legs, I can’t travel.”

Josephine Conti, 80, had heart surgery a few years ago, and comes two times a week to walk the treadmill and work the bikes.

“The people are so nice. You look forward to coming here,” said Conti said, as she kept up a quick pace on the treadmill.

“I think it does wonders,” she said. “It’s a wonderful place to be, if you have to be here. And the people are great.”

Anyone can use the services of the center, Dennis said. Some are recommended by their doctors, but anyone can particpate in the wellness program— which includes therpists. The fee is $42 for 12 visits.

“We always have room for new clients,” he added. “We’d like more people to know about the heart center. This place is an undiscovered jewel.”

        

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