09-05-2025
Warren hospital takes big step for life-saving care
WARREN, Ohio (WKBN) — A big step for life-saving care has just happened in the Valley. An expansion at St. Joseph Warren Hospital has reduced the need for patients to go somewhere else for specialized heart care.
St. Joseph Warren Hospital got an emergency patient at 4 o'clock Tuesday morning. It was not routine.
'He was having chest pain for eight hours before he came in. When we took the first picture, his artery was blocked 100%,' said Dr. Fadi Naddour, interventional cardiologist.
That's called a STEMI, and blood flow needs to be restored to the heart as quickly as possible. Lucky for the man from Texas, St. Joseph had just started around-the-clock treatment of STEMI patients.
'Time is heart, and the longer it takes you to travel somewhere, the more likely your heart is to be damaged off, permanently and irreversible,' said Jill Stefanucci-Uberti, VP of medical operations.
Previously, patients would've been transferred to Mercy Health facilities in Youngstown or Cleveland. But the new team at St. Joseph did the work.
'The entire procedure took about 15 minutes, and he became chest pain free afterwards, and his EKG became so much better,' Naddour said.
St. Joseph embarked on this journey about a year ago. It opened a cath lab and has completed 140 catheterizations. It's also broadened access to pacemaker procedures. Some members of the team came from right down the road.
'I mean, we've been doing this at Trumbull for 20 years, and after Trumbull has closed, St Joe took over completely, so we transferred the entire team, the entire process,' Naddour said.
'You have plenty of new, fresh people who are excited to learn, who want to be a part of the process, who provided the heavy lift before Trumbull actually closed,' Stefanucci-Uberti said.
The first overnight STEMI patient is doing well and was expected to be released from the hospital Thursday.
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