Sherman Oaks Hospital Opens New Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory and Reopens Behavioral Health Facility f...( SHERMAN OAKS Calif. Aug. ...),Health

SHERMAN OAKS, Calif., Aug. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Sherman Oaks Hospital, a 153-bed acute care facility, a subsidiary of Prime Healthcare Services, Inc. (PHS), today is opening its brand new state-of-the-art Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory.

The new Cardiac Cath. Lab helps to definitively diagnose cardiac conditions and in certain cases of emergencies, to intervene in opening the clotted coronary arteries that cause heart attacks.

"Early intervention in opening these clotted vessels help limit the damage to the heart muscle and in improving patients' quality of life," said the Director of the Cardiac Cath. Lab and the past Chief of the Medical Staff, Nate Rubin, MD, FACC. "Simply put, this new lab will help save lives."

Sherman Oaks Hospital recently opened a 19-bed Geriatric Psychiatric (Gero-Psych.) facility offering much needed mental health care services for the seniors in the area. The Gero-Psych. Department opened in the same unit where the previous operator of Sherman Oaks Hospital, had closed down the unit. PHS made the decision to reopen the department after it determined behavioral health services were greatly needed, especially for seniors.

"We are doing everything possible to better serve the community's healthcare needs, particularly given that a large percentage of the population we serve are seniors," said Prem Reddy, MD, FACC, FCCP, PHS' Chairman of the Board. "Since our acquisition of Sherman Oaks Hospital, which was in a serious financial distress, we have not only turned it around financially, we are offering additional services and a greater level of quality care."

Prime Healthcare's network of hospitals was recognized earlier this month as one of the Top 10 Health Systems in the nation for 2009 in a first time survey conducted by Thomson Reuters' Top 100 Hospital(TM) survey. Thomson Reuters ranked PHS as one of the top 10
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