Open Heart at Lancaster General:
Still Beating Strong After 25 Years
On September 7, 1983, Gary Ghee made history, becoming Lancaster General’s first open heart surgery patient.
The surgery took place shortly after the Leola resident, then 42-years-old, suffered a serious heart attack while on a family trip to Williamsburg, Virginia.
Once he was well enough to return to Lancaster County, his cardiologist recommended open heart surgery. Gary chose to put his trust in Lancaster General.
Nearly a quarter century later, both Gary and the hospital’s open heart surgery program are still going strong.
“I’m so glad to be alive and ticking after 25 years,” Gary says. “Everything has been working fine since my surgery.”
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Dr. Lawrence Bonchek and Gary Ghee reunite 25 years after Gary
became the first open-heart surgery patient at Lancaster General.
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He is still working full-time and enjoying life today at age 66. He is grateful that surgery gave him more time with his wife Sheila, plus opportunities like coaching baseball and basketball for his then teenage kids, watching them grow and become successful in their own lives, and now the thrill of spending time with his 6-year-old granddaughter.
Gary had no qualms about being the first to have the surgery at Lancaster General. “I never felt threatened, and I never felt afraid. I was confident in my doctors.”
His surgeons that day were Lawrence Bonchek, MD, and Mark Burlingame, MD… both of whom came to Lancaster General with considerable experience in open heart surgery when
Cardiothoracic Surgeons of Lancaster opened in 1983.
“To this day I admire Gary for showing that confidence in us and his willingness to be our first patient,” Dr. Bonchek says.
Dr. Bonchek was Chairman of the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin when he was offered the opportunity to start the open heart program at Lancaster General.
He invited Dr. Burlingame, who at the time was practicing in Michigan. “I knew it was important to bring on board the best people I could find,” Dr. Bonchek says. “Dr. Burlingame was the best resident I had at the Medical College.”
The inaugural cardiothoracic surgery team also included anesthesiologists Dominic Dorazio, MD and Kenneth Denlinger, MD; Norma Ferdinand, RN, the hospital’s first nurse clinician; and Craig Gassman, the perfusionist, who managed the heart-lung machine.
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Dr. Richard Thompson, Dr. Mark Burlingame and Dr. Jeffrey Cope
Cardiothoracic Surgeons of Lancaster |
While the plan was to start with one operation every other day and gradually pick up the pace, Dr. Bonchek says word quickly spread among cardiologists about the program’s success and within a week they were performing one operation every day.
More than 16,000 open heart operations later, Dr. Burlingame leads the Cardiothoracic Surgeons team, Craig continues to serve as chief clinical perfusionist and Norma is Senior Vice President and Chief Quality Officer at Lancaster General. Dr. Bonchek is retired from clinical practice and serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Lancaster General Hospital and is a renowned speaker on heart surgery and heart health.
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For more information about the
Lancaster General Heart Center:
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While technology has improved over the past 25 years, the essential open heart surgery techniques are very similar, and the commitment to quality care remains a cornerstone of the Lancaster General practice.
“It has been an interesting 25 years,” Dr. Bonchek says. “During that time there have been fads in cardiac surgery, but we have always tried to maintain an even keel and determine what works for this practice and what is best for our patients before introducing changes in the way we work.”
One thing they have been doing since the practice began was maintain a thorough patient database… years before the National Database was created and data retrieval became a standard practice.
The data allowed the surgeons to analyze their results and determine ways to improve their technique and patient care.
“The National Database provides us with a way to look back at how we perform compared with other surgeons in the United States,” Dr. Burlingame says. Lancaster General has consistently performed as well as or better than the national averages. “Patients can feel confident that this community is getting the best care possible.”
Today Dr. Burlingame, Jeffrey Cope, MD, and Richard Thompson, MD, are offering new innovations that were not available when Gary had his surgery. Innovations include the
implantable ventricular-assist device (VAD), which gives patients a bridge of time when transplant is needed.
“At a time when most programs in Pennsylvania are seeing a decline, we’ve actually increased our volumes,” Dr. Cope says. “That can be attributed to the quality of the program here.”
The future promises to include more minimally invasive surgical options and an expansion of comprehensive treatment for lung and esophageal cancer.
“We will also look to introduce the next generation of VADs, and we will soon become a Center of Excellence that will allow us to provide VADs as permanent destination therapy for some patients,” Dr. Cope says.
“Our goal from the start was to create a world class open heart surgery program for the people of Lancaster County; one that’s recognized nationally and internationally,” Dr. Bonchek says. “We set out to establish a high standard and to attract high quality people who wanted to participate in that kind of enterprise.”
“We see a continued bright future for cardiothoracic surgery here in our county,” Dr. Burlingame says.
“I’ve always told my wife that if anything ever happens to me heart-wise, no matter where we are, get me on a plane and get me back to Lancaster General,” Gary says.