The Paradise Valley Hospital Cardiac Catheterization Lab performed its first procedure in May, 2001. By December, 2004, they celebrated their 2000th procedure. Fast-forward 20 years to where the PVH Cath Lab completed its 12,863rd procedure as of May. One person who has been a constant through its whole history is current Cath Lab Clinical Supervisor Josephine “Josie” Pedroso. “I started here working per diem in 2001, and very quickly I was asked to join full-time. I’ve worked here ever since, my second home.”
As the hospital has grown, the Cath Lab has kept pace, updating its equipment over the years, adding expertise, and furthering training. When the hospital became a severe heart attack STEMI (ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction) Receiving Center in 2022, Josie and her team relished the challenge of expanding their skill-set to care for these emergency, severely sick patients. “I love what we do here,” says Josie. “I love taking care of patients and seeing them get better. This is what nursing is all about.” Josie adds, “I’m obviously biased, but I believe that we have the best team in town.”
There are long term plans to expand the PVH Cath Lab to better serve the community and help the hospital grow. Beginning sometime in 2025, the area’s physical space will expand to make room for equipment upgrades. And hospital leadership has worked to expand the capabilities of the Cath Lab for the immediate future by recruiting interventional radiology specialists who are excited to work at Paradise Valley Hospital. New-to-PVH physician Sharjeel Sabir leads a group of three physicians who bring with them this expertise and enthusiasm, and add capabilities that the hospital was not able to provide in the past. This makes Paradise Valley Hospital a more attractive place for other physicians to bring their patients. “Paradise Valley Hospital is a great hospital to work at,” says Dr. Sabir. “We have a great team here, the doctors are wonderful, and the patients are appreciative. We want to build a program here that provides consistent, high-quality, service.”
“The popular phrase is, ‘Build it, and they will come,’” says PVH CEO Neerav Jadeja, “but I like to think the grown-up version of that is, ‘Involve the right staff, attract the right people, and it will all come together.’ The magic formula for hospitals is growing to better serve the community, which in turn makes it easier to grow even more and provide even better care. We’re on that track, and it’s a wonderful thing to witness.”
At a recent get-together of Cath Lab staff, physicians, and leadership to celebrate the second anniversary of the hospital becoming a STEMI Receiving Center, PVH physician Prashant Patel described the PVH Cath Lab as “small but mighty.” That is also an apt description of Paradise Valley Hospital, but with plans to remain mighty and perhaps less small in the future.