The Power of a Network: Lifesaving Heart Care
Ruth Strong woke up one morning in March 2009 feeling as though she couldn’t breathe. She also had difficulty walking and talking. The Beach Haven resident had suffered a heart attack one year before, when she was visiting family in California, so she knew this was not something to take lightly.
She managed to contact her son, Jeff, who called 911. The local first aid squad arrived promptly and took her to Southern Ocean Medical Center’s Emergency Department. “I had been doing well since I had been back home, so this event took me by surprise,” Ruth says. “It was really scary.”
Fortunately, she was in good hands. As part of Ruth’s care, Southern Ocean cardiologist James Orlando, M.D., performed a cardiac catheterization to see what was causing her symptoms.
“Our community is very fortunate to have this state-of-the-art cardiac catheterization lab right here in Manahawkin,” says Dr. Orlando. “And our interventional cardiologists who perform the tests are the same doctors who take care of our cardiac patients, which means the care is very personal. If our patients do need more complex procedures, they may be transported to Jersey Shore University Medical Center — and, in many cases, their Southern Ocean physicians can treat them there, too.”
Ruth’s case was one of the more complex ones. Dr. Orlando determined that the stents that had been inserted when she was in California were no longer doing the job. He arranged for her transfer to Jersey Shore, where he and Renato Apolito, M.D., an interventional cardiologist, replaced the stents.
“Dr. Orlando and Dr. Apolito put in two new stents in two separate procedures,” Ruth says. “It was exceptionally comforting to me to see my own doctors every step of the way — not just for the emergency care and the diagnostic testing, but for the actual stent procedures, too.
“And everyone at both Southern Ocean and Jersey Shore treated me so kindly and compassionately. I wasn’t just a person with a heart problem — I was a human being. People used to say you had to go to Philadelphia or New York. Not anymore!”
After her procedures, Ruth enrolled in the cardiac rehabilitation program at Southern Ocean. “It really made a difference for me. I’m 87 years old and the work on the treadmill motivated me to do more walking and exercise in general,” she says. “I even went swimming in the ocean last summer, and that does something magical for you!”
She managed to contact her son, Jeff, who called 911. The local first aid squad arrived promptly and took her to Southern Ocean Medical Center’s Emergency Department. “I had been doing well since I had been back home, so this event took me by surprise,” Ruth says. “It was really scary.”
Fortunately, she was in good hands. As part of Ruth’s care, Southern Ocean cardiologist James Orlando, M.D., performed a cardiac catheterization to see what was causing her symptoms.
“Our community is very fortunate to have this state-of-the-art cardiac catheterization lab right here in Manahawkin,” says Dr. Orlando. “And our interventional cardiologists who perform the tests are the same doctors who take care of our cardiac patients, which means the care is very personal. If our patients do need more complex procedures, they may be transported to Jersey Shore University Medical Center — and, in many cases, their Southern Ocean physicians can treat them there, too.”
Ruth’s case was one of the more complex ones. Dr. Orlando determined that the stents that had been inserted when she was in California were no longer doing the job. He arranged for her transfer to Jersey Shore, where he and Renato Apolito, M.D., an interventional cardiologist, replaced the stents.
“Dr. Orlando and Dr. Apolito put in two new stents in two separate procedures,” Ruth says. “It was exceptionally comforting to me to see my own doctors every step of the way — not just for the emergency care and the diagnostic testing, but for the actual stent procedures, too.
“And everyone at both Southern Ocean and Jersey Shore treated me so kindly and compassionately. I wasn’t just a person with a heart problem — I was a human being. People used to say you had to go to Philadelphia or New York. Not anymore!”
After her procedures, Ruth enrolled in the cardiac rehabilitation program at Southern Ocean. “It really made a difference for me. I’m 87 years old and the work on the treadmill motivated me to do more walking and exercise in general,” she says. “I even went swimming in the ocean last summer, and that does something magical for you!”
Meet the Doctor
James F. Orlando, M.D.
Board certified in Cardiovascular Disease & Interventional Cardiology
Manahawkin | 609-971-3300
