CAY HILL--St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) made a major stride on Wednesday when it conducted its first permanent pacemaker implantation surgery on a 65-year-old woman.
Visiting cardiologist Meredith Sedney from Bronovo Hospital in the Netherlands, who had been in St. Maarten for several months as part of efforts to set up a cardiology department here, said the procedure was a huge success with the help of local professionals.
The patient, who left SMMC on Friday, had been fainting unexpectedly "every now and then," which Sedney said is a typical sign of Adams-Stokes disease (sudden collapse into unconsciousness due to a disorder of heart rhythm in which there is a slow or absent pulse). Adams-stokes can be fatal.
Sedney said there was an urgent need to help the patient. When the patient was admitted to SMMC, a decision was made to carry out the procedure.
"The patient needed a pacemaker. While she was admitted to SMMC we made sure to get the pacemaker and the necessary items to connect it to the heart. It took us about five days to get the items."
The procedure was conducted on Wednesday after all the items had been received.
Sedney highly praised the SMMC staff that assisted her during the operation. She said they had been competent and enthusiastic professionals. "This makes me happy to continue with this work because such a procedure can be [risky] because you never know what will happen during the procedure because the heart can come to a standstill. I found out minutes into the procedure that the workers were professionals."
Operating Room Supervisor Christina Jacobs-Berkel said a lot of the preparation was done prior to the operation. "It was something new for us, but we had a lot of discussion before and we were prepared. We enjoyed the challenge. The [support staff] were all local professionals at SMMC and everyone was enthusiastic.
"Living here on a small island even we as professionals in health care are confronted with the situation where our family members have to travel for medical treatment and professionally it is a challenge."
She said it's always a plus when patients can have their procedures done right here where they can get the support of families and friends.
Cardiology department
Sedney and Cardiologist Dr. Miriam Haverkamp (Bronovo Hospital) are among the team of specialists who are visiting St. Maarten as part of efforts to set up a cardiology department here. The initiative began sometime ago. SMMC is currently in discussions with the government to have tariffs set so that the department can be set up. Once a tariff structure has been set, the opening of the cardiology department can be accelerated.
It has been determined, based on St. Maarten's population, that at least one full functioning cardiologist is needed.
Sedney said it is believed that there are many persons in St. Maarten suffering from heart disease as is the case in other parts of the world. "Our intention is to evaluate them and try to give the medication or other treatments that they would need."
SMMC is expecting an echocardiography machine in about two weeks' time, which will significantly help in the diagnosis of heart ailments. "This is what we really need and it looks like we will have one in two months."
SMMC Communications Officer Juliette Hassell said it will be more cost-effective if cardiology patients can be treated in St. Maarten instead of having to fly abroad.
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