RMC plans heart care expansion; outpatient neurology begins in Oct.

The Regional Medical Center is going to begin providing non-surgical heart catheterizations to patients.

The RMC will begin the percutaneous coronary intervention (formerly known as angioplasty with stent) program within the next three months, according to RMC Chief Operating Officer Sabrina Robinson.

“Our goal is to make sure we have quality care for our patients where they live. We have to have access to where our patients are,” Robinson reported at a forum last month in Calhoun County.

The procedure entails using a catheter to place a small structure called a stent to open up blood vessels in the heart that have been narrowed by plaque buildup.

RMC currently has a cardiology program that does check patients for potential blockages, but does not stent them, Robinson said.

“What happens is that if a patient comes with a coronary disease if there is something higher level, they have to go out of the community,” Robinson said.

RMC has hired an interventional cardiologist and a director of interventional cardiology and has received a Certificate of Need, which gives the program permission to move forward.

“We are going to continue to expand on those services where we can provide the services here,” Robinson said.

RMC is hiring and training nurses in preparation for the program and working to make sure there is transportation from Orangeburg to a tertiary partner in the event of an emergency, Robinson said.

In addition, Robinson said RMC will begin an outpatient neurology program starting next month.

Two years ago, RMC started an inpatient neurology program, but outpatient neurology care is not provided locally.

Robinson said three doctors will be part of the program when it kicks off.

Robinson also said the hospital’s Mabry Cancer Center is up for accreditation review on Nov. 8, with expectations the center will be fully accredited.

She said the center had been accredited in the past, but lost the accreditation a few years ago.