New equipment is ready

By DIANE GASPER-O'BRIEN

Hays Daily News

It has new state-of-the-art equipment and a new home. But the main focus in the coming months will be to keep people from having to visit it at all.

The cardiology department at Hays Medical Center, along with heart surgeon Dr. Steve Bailey, moved into its new wing that in February was dedicated as the Michael E. DeBakey Heart Institute and Rehabilitation Center.

There is more room than ever before and new equipment for the cath laboratory.

HMC also has started a new procedure with a device called the SilverHawk, which removes arterial plaque from legs.

But, says Bryce Young, HMC also is going to work harder on education and prevention.

“There are so many people walking around who are asymptomatic, having symptoms of heart disease and not even knowing it,” said Young, chief operating officer of the hospital who is in charge of cardiovascular services.

“One of our primary objectives is going to be to educate them and uncover that disease,” Young said.

“Our focus is on taking the education and the screening to the region,” he added.

Young said that education and prevention has taken on a new impetus with the aging of the baby boomers.

“With the baby boomers aging, it's a harsh reality that the demand for those who can have cardiac disease is going to increase,” Young said. “It's going to change the whole healthcare industry.”

Dr. Christine Fisher, one of three cardiologists at HMC, agreed.

“I think we can make the largest impact by educating the public and preventing the disease,” Fisher said. “Learn more about things like smoking, cholesterol, hypertension ... the things that we can help control.”

Fisher came to Hays eight years ago as one of the first cardiologists at HMC and has seen the program go through numerous changes. Her partners now are Dr. Jeff Curtis and Dr. Mohammed Janif.

But, Fisher said, the one constant has been quality care, something she said is rewarding to be able to give to patients in remote areas.

Before HMC started its cardiology program, most patients went to Wichita or Topeka, Fisher said, and both are about three hours from Hays and even farther for patients west of Hays.

“If a person can arrive within that first hour of having chest discomfort,” Fisher said, “the odds of them surviving are much better.”

Fisher came to Hays from St. Louis and said that she made the right decision.

“You can be in the middle of a very rural area, in Hays, Kan.,” she said, “and have a world-class facility ... the best of the best, right here.”

Reporter Diane Gasper-O'Brien can be reached at (785) 628-1081, ext. 126, or by e-mail at

dobrien@dailynews.net.