Shaw Heart & Vascular Center

Mercy Medical Center has renamed its state-of-the-art Heart Center after the benefactor that has contributed so much to its emergence as a center of excellence in heart care.

The newly named Shaw Heart and Vascular Center at Mercy honors the Walden W. and Jean Young Shaw Foundation, a Chicago-based organization that since 1990 has funded a variety of technology and facility upgrades, primarily in those areas dedicated to the care of heart patients.

Mercy was first brought to Shaw Foundation's attention by one of its board members, Gordy Iler, a Roseburg resident. "Health care is the primary focus of The Shaw Foundation's giving, and it has been very impressed with Mercy," Iler says. "Over the years, the foundation board has developed a real fondness and respect for the organization and its activities, particularly in the area of heart services."

Mercy's new interventional cardiology program provides percutaneous (able to be performed through the skin) coronary interventions (PCI) through the use of balloon angioplasty, stents and AngioJet.

• Balloon angioplasty inserts a wire with a balloon at the end. Arteries can become narrowed or blocked by deposits called plaque. Plaque is made up of fat and cholesterol that builds up on the inside of the artery walls. The balloon is placed in the blocked area and inflated to "crush" the plaque or blockage, thereby restoring proper blood flow to the heart.
• Metal stents prop open the blocked area within the coronary artery. A common type of stent is made of self-expanding, stainless steel mesh. Some stents are drug-coated to prevent further blockage.
• The AngioJet shoots jets of high-speed saline solution through tiny openings in the tip of a surgical instrument called a catheter. Plaque and clots then dissolve into small pieces that are vacuumed back through the catheter.