While Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network's local community consists of Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton, our care is far reaching.
We have set ourselves apart in many health care services, including our heart care and heart surgery. Our heart program is the third largest in Pennsylvania and has received state recognition for consistent "gold standard" care for heart attacks.
Patric Hettman, of East Stroudsburg, was set to enjoy the Pocono 500 when he started to experience signs of a heart attack. Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network's John McCarthy, D.O, an emergency physician located at Pocono Raceway's infield hospital, administered an EKG that showed he was having a heart attack. McCarthy then initiated an MI Alert for Heart Attacks, our award-winning program that opens blocked heart vessels within 90 minutes, saving heart muscle.
During the 15-minute flight to Lehigh Valley Hospital—Cedar Crest, Hettman’s heart stopped four times, meaning his artery was severely blocked. At arrival, Hettman was taken to the cardiac catheterization lab, where cardiologist Bryan Kluck, D.O., found the blocked artery. He opened it with a device that breaks up and sucks out plaque. Two stents were put in to help the artery stay open.
“I remember waking up in my room and watching the end of the race on TV,” Hettman says. Denny Hamlin took the checkered flag to win the Pocono 500, but Hettman says, “We were both winners that day.”
The speed and professional competence of everyone involved helped this East Stroudsburg man to be here today.
