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WESTLAKE, Oh. - University Hospitals St. John’s Catheterization Lab just completed a $2 million renovation. This created a technologically advanced space for minimally invasive tests and procedures to diagnose and treat heart and vascular disease, located at 29000 Center Ridge Rd. This renovation came just in time for Dan and Carol Rosing. The 81-year-old Westlake resident was at University Hospitals St. John Medical Center on a Saturday afternoon, volunteering as a eucharistic minister bringing communion to hospitalized patients. Dan Rosing thought he just needed antacids. When he complained of indigestion and looked pale, while rubbing his chest, his wife Carol immediately recognized the warning signs. “The look on his face, I’ll never forget it,” Carol recalled. “He looked shocked. ‘You’re going to the ER,’ I told him. To think if I wasn’t there, he might have taken more Tums and ignored it.” Within hours, Dan was diagnosed with a non-STEMI heart attack — his troponin levels had spiked to 7,500, indicating significant heart muscle damage. His 19-year-old cardiac stents had become blocked, and he needed immediate intervention. Dan’s emergency came just as UH St. John completed a $2 million renovation of its cardiac catheterization lab, equipped with state-of-the-art technology for cardiac and peripheral vascular procedures. On Monday morning, interventional cardiologist John Coletta, MD, performed Dan Rosing’s cardiac catheterization using advanced techniques that weren’t available when Rosing received his original stents nearly two decades ago. The new center allows doctors to perform optimal coherence tomography (OCT) to obtain detailed intravascular images, Dr. Coletta employed intravascular lithotripsy — shock waves to open the artery — followed by a drug-coated balloon and stents. “It’s as if the balloon is spray painted with this drug coating,” Coletta explained. “When the balloon is inflated inside of the artery and then deflated, the drug coating is left on the inside of the artery to help with the healing.” Dan’s cardiac issues weren’t entirely unexpected. His parents and grandparents all died of cardiac events before turning 65. His mother was in her mid-50s when she died, and his father passed away just two months after signing his retirement papers. Carol Rosing was determined not to become a young widow. She gave her husband a full cardiac workup for his 50th birthday — a gift that proved life-changing. That examination and his subsequent long-term relationship with his cardiologist have helped Dan reach 81, more than 15 years beyond the age any of his parents or grandparents lived to see. Dr. Coletta emphasized the importance of having a fully equipped cardiac catheterization lab available around the clock in the community. “We know if the artery is completely blocked, we need to get that person to the cath lab emergently, and if there are no ST elevations, we can schedule an urgent cath imminently,” he said. “Most importantly, if patients are unstable, we have a 24-hour cath lab where we can take care of you any hour of the day or night.” The timing of Dan’s heart attack was fortunate in its own way. Had it occurred while he was spreading mulch earlier that week, or during a planned drive across town later that day, the outcome could have been very different. “We have cutting-edge technology being delivered every day to the people of this community,” Dr. Coletta said. “In cardiology we always want the latest and greatest, and UH Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute is committed to delivering for our patients. Dan’s story shows how well we integrate all this technology and deliver it to our patients in an ever-changing landscape.” Following his procedure, Dan participated in the cardiac rehabilitation program at the UH facility at 26908 Detroit Road in Westlake, a 12-week supervised exercise program. “All the nurses are very caring here, and we have one of the best cardiac rehab programs in the city,” Carol said. “They do a great job. We were in the right place at the right time with the right doctors. Everything went well.” Now that Dan is recovering, the couple of 59 years continues their volunteer work at UH St. John, bringing communion to patients in the same hospital that saved Dan’s life.
