Letter: Team at Lima Memorial reason for local pride

I could not help but feel great when I arrived Friday morning at Lima Memorial Health System to start my morning surgery. Everybody was talking about the article in The Lima News and the evening TV news about a patient’s generous donation to the hospital.

It did not take too long for me to discover this was a patient for whom we spent more than six hours operating on a torn aorta two days earlier. This patient was in the ER waiting to be transferred back to Riverside hospital in Columbus, where he had his original open heart surgery two weeks before. I was informed the helicopter could not fly because of fog. With his legs paralyzed from lack of blood flow and his kidneys shutting down, every minute counted — and the clock was ticking; just like seven years ago, when we repaired his ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm.

Having confidence in our cardiac surgery team here at Lima Memorial Health System, with more than 13 years of experience doing full array of elective and emergency operations, I had no hesitation about calling in the team. Within one hour, we were on our way to start the marathon operation, which ended in a great success, His kidneys are recovering and his legs moving again.

It is well known to everybody in the area that the medical industry in Lima has flourished over the years and has become one of the premier health care communities in the region. Unfortunately, I believe our heart surgery program has not gotten the recognition it deserves. Since the open heart program started in Lima under the direction of Dr. Siavosh Bozorgi in 1997, it has continued to mature into a service with superb quality, competing with world class institutions such as Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

I would like to extend my gratitude to the staff in Lima Memorial Health System open heart OR and cardiovascular intensive care unit, as well as physician assistants, perfusionists and the rest of the staff who have given there heart and soul to this program and save lives on a daily basis.

I am very proud to be part of this team and would not have it any other way.

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