MISSOULA – As one cardiologist puts it, having heart surgery isn’t usually an ‘elective’ procedure.
The number of Montanans who need cardiac care continues to grow faster than the number of doctors available and Community Medical Center announced a new partnership with the Billings Clinic on Thursday to help.
CMC introduced the new Billings Clinic Heart and Vascular at Community Medical Center during a Missoula news conference. The Billings Clinic is accredited and nationally recognized for excellence in cardiac care.
This partnership brings more resources and heart doctors to Missoula as well as more advanced medical technology that can save and improve the lives of busy Montanans.
"One of them is new procedures that have only been done in Spokane or out of state. Those involve endovascular. Endovascular is going into the blood vessels of the body around the heart to get to other blockages that can form in the carotenoid brain artery, in the kidney or in leg arteries that limits people’s ability to hike or ride bikes or even play with grand kids," cardiologist De. Robert Minor said.
Cardiologists in Missoula will also video conference with doctors in Billings to discuss complicated cases so a patient will have more eyes on their health issue for the best possible outcome.
Heart disease is among the top two most common causes of death each year.
