Advances

Family practice center open in Hometown

The Advocate Christ Medical Center Family Practice Center has moved to Hometown. The new center, which is larger and offers expanded services and hours, is located at 4140 Southwest Highway.

“This brings us closer to the community we are serving,” says Kevin Sherin, M.D., a family practice physician and director of the family medicine residency program at Advocate Christ Medical Center.

Eight physicians and 30 residents staff the family practice clinic, which features 18 exam rooms and four special procedure rooms. Dr. Sherin emphasizes that the clinic provides one-stop care for busy families.

“Family practice physicians are trained to take care of the whole family—kids to adults—and can handle 90 percent of outpatient health problems,” Dr. Sherin says. “We offer routine preventive care and maternity care. We cast broken bones and even perform minor surgeries.”

To make an appointment with one of the center’s physicians, call 1.800.3.ADVOCATE (1.800.323.8622).

New help for the heart

Heart failure patients are getting a new lease on life at Advocate Christ Medical Center.

Left ventricular assist devices (LVADs)—small implantable machines that take over some of the pumping function for a damaged heart—are usually used to help patients waiting for a heart transplant. But, at Christ Medical Center, the devices are actually being used to treat heart failure, according to cardiologist Marc Silver, M.D.

Heart failure develops over time as the heart muscle weakens and needs to work harder to keep blood flowing through the body. While there is no cure for heart failure, physicians can prolong a patient’s life with medication and lifestyle changes.

In severe cases, a heart transplant may be the only option, but it can take years to find a suitable donor. Plus, not all people are good candidates for transplants, either because they are too sick; have other conditions, such as kidney or lung disease; or are of advanced age.

During the past few years, nine Christ Medical Center patients who did not respond to aggressive heart failure treatment and were too sick to undergo a heart transplant had LVADs implanted for several months—and saw marked improvement. “We’re seeing that some patients can actually improve heart function with the device because it allows their heart to rest,” Dr. Silver explains. “For these patients, it’s more than a bridge to a transplant; it’s actually a bridge to recovery.”

Special services info online

Advocate Christ Medical Center has always been committed to helping non-English speaking patients and guests, and now additional support is available online. The updated Christ Medical Center web site includes:

• details on how to access interpreters
• directions to the hospital in five different languages
• living wills and power of attorney forms in five languages

Click here for more information about the Christ Medical Center special services department, or call 1.800.3.ADVOCATE (1.800.323.8622).

A less invasive hysterectomy

Physicians at Advocate Christ Medical Center now perform laparoscopic hysterectomies that remove the uterus but leave the cervix and supporting ligaments intact, allowing for a less painful surgery and speedier recovery.

More than 650,000 hysterectomies are performed in the United States each year, and the vast majority of those are recommended to remove fibroids, noncancerous growths that cause painful, heavy bleeding.

“In those cases, there is no reason to remove the cervix,” says Edward Ryan, M.D., an obstetrician/gynecologist with Christ Medical Center. Removal of the cervix and supporting ligaments weakens muscular support in the pelvic area, causing bladder and incontinence problems in some women, he explains.

Laparoscopy is a type of surgery in which physicians insert miniature fiber-optic instruments into the patient through tiny incisions. Some of the instruments are equipped with miniature video cameras, which guide doctors through the procedure. Because the incisions are small and the surgery is less invasive, women undergoing laparoscopic hysterectomies have a much speedier recovery than those undergoing traditional abdominal hysterectomies.

“Women with any cancerous or precancerous conditions may still require a total hysterectomy (removal of all the reproductive organs). Anyone with a very large uterus also may need to have an abdominal hysterectomy, but all other women could be strong candidates for laparoscopic surgery,” Dr. Ryan says.