The Villages Regional Hospital (TVRH) serves residents of The Villages. The 198-bed facility has won several national awards, including being named a Top 100 Hospital by Thomson Healthcare, in 2007, and being ranked as the 12th best employer in the nation for workers over 50. However, there is a lot more to a hospital than its awards; like its doctors, staff, services and facilities.

One of the things that makes The Villages Regional Hospital special is its Phillip’s Ambient Experience Catheter Lab.

Used to diagnose and treat certain heart conditions, a heart catheterization involves a small tube (the catheter) being placed into a vein or artery, most often in an arm or leg, and guided to the heart. Normally, patients are given a local anesthetic and a sedative, but are kept awake during the procedure. Though many report the procedure to be relatively painless, patients typically experience stress before and during the procedure. The Ambient Experience Catheter Lab is designed to help reduce that stress, making the catheterization more pleasant.

With aid of a touch screen, patients select claming scenes, such as the beach or a European countryside, that are then projected above the table where the patient reclines during the procedure.

According to the TVRH web site, the images are combined with coordinated sounds and special lighting that provides soft, soothing changes to room color.

Not only does the unique cath lab help make the procedure less stressful for the patients, the lab, developed by Philips Medical Systems, is designed to improve workflow for the clinical staff.

TVRH was one of the first hospitals to have an Ambient Experience cath lab. To date, the Ambient Experience cath lab is only used at about 125 facilities worldwide.

Heart Disease Talk

As great as the ambient cath lab may sound; it’s best to avoid having to use it. To that end, this month you can attend a free talk, sponsored by the hospital, on beating coronary artery disease. Coronary Artery Disease is the leading cause of death in men and women in the U.S.  It is a slow process in which deposits of fat, cholesterol, and calcium build up inside the arteries of the heart. The talk is Monday, Nov. 30, from 10 to 11:30 am at The Waterfront Inn at Lake Sumter Landing. The talk is part of the hospitals’ “Live and Learn” lecture series. For more information visit: http://leesburgregional.netreturns.biz/events/