County adds endorsement of Cardiac Catheterization Unit at WMH

The Warren County Board of Supervisors has followed the Town of Front Royal in endorsing a certificate of public need for the addition of a new cardiac service unit at Warren Memorial Hospital.

The proposed $2.1-million dollar Cardiac Catheterization Unit at the Front Royal hospital is planned to service patients from Warren, Rappahannock, Page, and Shenandoah Counties.  Current travel time for patients northbound from those counties for catheterization service at Winchester Medical Center in Frederick County is estimated at an additional 25 minutes.

Catheterization is procedure utilizing a hollow tube inserted into an artery leading into the heart.  It is a medical tool used in both diagnostic and emergency situations to pinpoint problems like clogged arteries and other damage that can lead to, or is in the process of causing a heart attack.

According to statistics presented to the Town and County, all four counties the unit is proposed to service have higher than average state mortality rates from Acute Myocardial Infarction, which catheterization treats.  Statistics presented cite those county mortality rates at 25-percent above the state average for Warren, 32-percent higher for Page, and 2-percent and 10-percent higher for Rappahannock and Shenandoah Counties, respectively.

The southeastern side of Warren Memorial Hospital where the planned expansion would occur. Photo/Roger Bianchini

The County’s Letter of Support of the hospital’s application to expand its North Shenandoah Avenue facility was unanimously approved as part of Consent Agenda on January 17.  The Town passed a similar endorsement of the Valley Health proposal on January 9.  Hospital officials have told the Town expansion to add the unit will utilize some existing space, as well as expansion along the southeastern side of Warren Memorial toward the 9^th Street and Park Lane parking lot.

Warren Memorial officials will now present an Application for a Certificate of Public Need to the Virginia Department of Health, accompanied by the Town and County endorsements.  State authorization for the expansion would be expected within the next several months.

Valley Health’s decision to move on this expansion now may be an indicator that the plan to move Warren Memorial Hospital to property off the now-under construction Leach’s Run Parkway between Happy Creek Road and John Marshall Highway is still a long way off.