Healthy hearts: Bon Secours’ journey to excellence in cardiac care

With a deep bench of medical experts on staff, the most state-of-the-art technology and a compassionate approach to treatment, Bon Secours is leading the way in cardiovascular care across the Richmond market. Four Bon Secours Richmond hospitals stand out for their cardiac programs: St. Mary’s Hospital in Henrico, Memorial Regional Medical Center in Hanover, St. Francis Medical Center in Chesterfield and Southside Medical Center in Petersburg. While patients benefit from the expertise across this robust network, those requiring advanced cardiac surgery are referred to St. Mary’s or Memorial Regional, two hospitals now recognized with a prestigious designation for excellence in cardiovascular surgery.

Bon Secours’ cardiovascular program has experienced significant growth in recent years to better serve the needs of the local community, and that growth is continuing.   

In 2023, Bon Secours Memorial Regional Medical Center opened the Cecil R. and Edna S. Hopkins Center for Cardiovascular Excellence, a new cardiovascular intensive care unit that features a forward-thinking universal bed model. And last month, construction kicked off on a new eight-story, $370 million critical care tower expansion at St. Mary’s Hospital, which will also include a new CVICU, intended to open in 2028. Both hospitals excel at bringing together health care providers across multiple disciplines to save lives.

Mark Bladergroen, M.D., executive medical director of the Bon Secours Heart and Vascular Institute, has been affiliated with the organization for 36 years.

“We’ve seen continued evolution and investment that keeps pace with the health care realities of our times,” he said. “Fundamentally, what’s evolved is an emphasis on team-based subspecialty care. Marrying that with technology that’s also advancing the care is imperative.”

This investment has opened up new cutting-edge treatment options that patients might not have otherwise been able to access. Bon Secours St. Mary’s Hospital became the first hospital in Virginia to offer pulsed field ablation for the treatment of atrial fibrillation, and more recently, the first in the region to offer the Medtronic Affera Mapping and Ablation System with Sphere-9 Catheter for patients living with persistent A-fib. Memorial Regional Medical Center also offers pulsed field ablation technology, and in addition, EP ablation procedures are available at St. Francis Medical Center and Southside Medical Center, ensuring a broad network of access to these treatment options.

“Advancements in the engineering field of the health care industry are constantly being adopted by Bon Secours,” Dr. Bladergroen said. “Unless you recognize the importance of those things and invest in them, you won’t distinguish yourself in a competitive market. Technology is a tool that, when combined with the right people and expertise, yields a strong outcome in terms of clinical excellence.”

The combination of advanced treatment options, high-quality care and outcomes has earned Bon Secours St. Mary’s Hospital — and, for the first time, Memorial Regional Medical Center — the prestigious three-star rating from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. These hospitals are now two of the 195 programs in North America to achieve this distinguished status based on patient care and outcomes in isolated coronary artery bypass grafting procedures.

“Both Memorial and St. Mary’s have achieved the highest level of rating awarded by the Society of Thoracic Surgeons with regard to coronary artery bypass surgery,” Dr. Bladergroen said. “It varies year to year depending on the database, but I would say only the top 10% to 15% of hospitals in the nation receive this award.”

With so many options for heart care available in the region, Dr. Bladergroen feels the breadth of expertise Bon Secours is able to offer in a community hospital setting is what sets the system apart from its competitors in the marketplace.

“What differentiates us is the mission of Catholic health care, and at the same time, accepting the responsibility to offer a full spectrum of services from initial encounter through whatever pathway and complexity unfolds before a patient and their family,” Dr. Bladergroen said. “We are capable of providing that here.”

To learn more about Bon Secours, go to bonsecours.com.

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