El Camino Hospital is grateful to the Melchor family, whose generous gift will continue a world-class center for cardiovascular care.
The Norma Melchor Heart & Vascular Institute is already one of the community’s most valuable health care resources, providing patients comprehensive cardiovascular care from leading experts who continually strive to advance the practice of cardiovascular care in this area. The Institute offers an array of clinical programs for diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of patients with cardiovascular disease and in conjunction with the Taft Center for Clinical Research participates in clinical research.
"The Norma Melchor Heart & Vascular Institute is committed to the provision of the highest-quality care to our patients, which means continuously evaluating and integrating, as appropriate, the latest technologies that will advance care; and to training and mentoring the next generation of physicians," says
James Joye, DO, director of research and education. "We have a strong legacy in these areas, boasting physicians at this hospital who are not only invited to participate in top-tier clinical trials of revolution- ary technologies and therapies, but who have themselves created new products and techniques that have advanced the field of cardiac care."
In collaboration with the Fogarty Institute of Innovation, the Norma Melchor Heart & Vascular Institute offers an Advanced Endovascular Fellowship program for physicians who want to increase their knowledge and skills in the field of interventional cardiac care. The Melchor family's gift will further support these clinical programs, as well as the research and educational programs of the Institute, giving physicians and patients even more options for the treatment of heart disease.
- The institute has one of the broadest and deepest peripheral vascular disease programs in Northern California, with approximately 500 procedures conducted each year.
- El Camino Hospital, Mountain View, was the first hospital in the region to be certified as a Chest Pain Center with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), providing a higher level of expertise in treating heart attacks. at el camino Hospital, elapsed time from the ER to interventional treatment is significantly lower than national guidelines.
- Unique to El Camino Hospital, specially designed hybrid surgical suites give surgeons, interventionalists and other cardiac specialists an opportunity to collaborate in procedures, giving patients more treatment options.
- The institute has added technology that can provide a more accurate diagnosis of chest pain in women caused by blockages in the small microvessels that branch off from the main heart arteries.
- Cardiologists at the Institute pioneered development of a new, less-invasive mitral valve repair therapy that avoids surgical complications and longer recovery times associated with open-heart surgery. el camino Hospital is one of the only centers in Northern California where this clinical trial is offered.
- El camino Hospital is one of only 40 U.S. cardiovascular centers to participate in a major clinical trial to evaluate a nonsurgical, less invasive procedure as a treatment alternative to open-heart surgery for patients with severe aortic stenosis.