Heart health gets a boost from hospital-UO partnership.

Byline: GUEST VIEWPOINT By Rich Linton and Alan Yordy For The Register-Guard

In the Eugene-Springfield area, as in the rest of the nation, cardiovascular diseases are the No. 1 killer, claiming one life every 34 seconds. These ailments - high blood pressure, coronary heart diseases, congestive heart failure, stroke and congenital cardiovascular defects - kill more Americans than the next five leading causes of death combined.

Any efforts to bolster our region's enviable quality of life must also take aim at the heart of health care. And that's exactly what Sacred Heart Medical Center and the University of Oregon are doing. Last month, our organizations launched an innovative partnership that will have an immediate and long-lasting impact on the heart health of the five-county region surrounding Eugene-Springfield. After nearly 75 years as friendly neighbors, this is the first time we've formally collaborated as academic and medical professionals.

Several years in the making, the Oregon Heart & Vascular Institute will be among the premier heart and vascular centers in the Pacific Northwest. The institute will set the standard for heart and vascular care by bringing together the finest in medical expertise, treatment, research and prevention.

The institute is unique in its interdisciplinary model, integrating the expertise of cardiologists, interventional radiologists, vascular surgeons and cardiovascular surgeons, in partnership with cardiovascular researchers. We hope the institute will become a model for other cardiac facilities throughout the United States, and that it may transform patient care in other disciplines as well.

The institute functions as a hospital-within-a-hospital, with distinct leadership and governance. It builds on Sacred Heart Medical Center's reputation as one of the nation's top 100 hospitals for cardiac services. Sacred Heart currently has the second-highest heart surgery volume in the state, and third-highest in the Northwest. In the 2003 fiscal year, more than 30 percent of Sacred Heart's cardiac patients came from outside Lane County. This number is likely to grow as the Oregon Heart & Vascular Institute adds sophisticated services such as implantation of new cardiac devices.

The University of Oregon brings more than eight decades of research and expertise in human physiology to the institute. The UO Human Physiology Department was the first school of health and exercise in the nation. Its research today has been characterized as the investigation of factors and interventions that contribute to cardiac and vascular health, spanning the spectrum from molecular-based research to direct patient care.

Although collaborations between UO and Sacred Heart already result in co-sponsored medical education and research seminars, student clinical/surgery observations and physicians in the classrooms, the institute will facilitate and expand these opportunities and open the door to many others.

Bringing teaching and basic research from the university to clinical care and practice is an extraordinary opportunity rarely found outside of medical schools. While physicians apply the best-known medical science to the immediate care of patients, researchers have the luxury of time to advance that knowledge for future treatments.

Through the institute, physicians will have access to the latest medical research, and researchers will have the opportunity to conduct joint projects with nationally recognized physicians.

In addition, through curriculum development and basic research, university staff, students and multimedia experts will work closely with physicians to deliver student, patient and public education in new and innovative ways.

Patients will benefit by the institute's contribution to a greater awareness and understanding of emerging trends and practices in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of heart and vascular diseases. This includes a commitment to retain the community's first heart health promotion specialist.

The Oregon Heart & Vascular Institute will use the latest methods for collecting and reporting outcomes of all procedures and treatments. These measurements will be readily available to patients and referring physicians so they can compare for themselves and see what a difference the institute's physicians are making in the lives of patients.

The institute will develop and distribute information and support educational activities about heart and vascular health, providing our region with the long view of heart health, emphasizing rehabilitation and community prevention.

The Oregon Heart & Vascular Institute represents the next generation in medicine, combining decades of experience, thousands of procedures and a world-class university for the advancement of heart health in our community.

Rich Linton is vice president for research and dean of the graduate school at the University of Oregon. Alan Yordy is CEO of PeaceHealth Oregon Region.