Dr. Brian Dearing performs cardiac catheterization |
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7/14/2003
By summer of 2003, Cardiology Associates will have doubled their manpower in Baldwin County, growing to six full time cardiologists and allowing the physicians of Cardiology Associates to further expand their services to the communities they serve. These include all of the communities from North Baldwin County such as Bay Minette all the way to South Baldwin County areas such as Foley and Orange Beach and including Daphne, Fairhope and Gulf Shores.
Brian Dearing, M.D., a cardiologist with the group since 1998, points out that “For patients, doubling our size will mean a significantly increased level of service for them. Because there will be more physicians, there will be more availability. This availability translates into many benefits for our patients including a reduced waiting time to get an appointment, reduced waiting times in the offices and a greater ease in seeing the physician of choice.”
Frank Bunch, M.D., who joined the practice in 1996 acknowledges that “As a group, Cardiology Associates has always been a proponent of reaching the full potential of medical care in Baldwin County. But it’s also the great strides made by the hospitals here in all areas of medicine, and 2-2-2
particularly in cardiovascular care, that has necessitated that we grow to keep up with demand and provide quality care.”
Cath Lab Directors, David Godfrey at South Baldwin Regional Medical Center and Ernie Livingston at Thomas Hospital both report significant increases in demand for cardiovascular services. At South Baldwin, the number of procedures performed in the cath lab, including heart caths, angiograms and pacemakers, continues to grow each year. The cath lab recovery area has doubled its number of beds and the hospital has purchased brand new state-of-the-art patient monitors for each patient bed in this area.
Before the addition of open heart surgery last fall, Thomas Hospital had a diagnostic lab, but had to send patients to Mobile for surgery. When the heart center opened they were also able to offer cardiac services such as balloon angioplasty and stenting as well as providing open heart surgery. They have now completed nearly 150 successful open heart cases.
These hospitals cannot meet the demand for services unless there are cardiologists to care for these patients. David Trice, M.D., having the longest history in Baldwin County, reflects that “during the span of years since 1985, we have seen cardiovascular care grow from visiting, rotating physicians from Mobile spending a day a week in Baldwin County to a significant number of subspecialized cardiologists living and working in Baldwin County full time providing state of the art cardiac care to its residents 24 hours a day seven days a week.”
The three established doctors of this practice have lived and worked in Baldwin County for as long as 15 years, with Dr. Trice having started his practice in 1988, Dr. Bunch coming in 1996 and Dr. Dearing following in 1998. Joining them are Jay Stinebaugh, M.D., who started January 20, 2003 and Karl Hakmiller, M.D. and Ralph Buckley, M.D., both moving to Baldwin County to begin practice in July 2003.
These six physicians, dedicated solely to Baldwin County, are part of a larger group of twenty four cardiologists that make up Cardiology Associates, which means that Baldwin County patients have direct access to the full spectrum of cardiology care and to some of the most well trained cardiovascular subspecialists anywhere in the country. This subspecialty care includes interventional cardiology, electrophysiology, pediatric cardiology, specialized heart failure care and cholesterol and lipid treatment.
Dr. Trice recognizes that “We are extremely fortunate to able to live in a part of the world that is undeniably one of the best places to live in the United States and be able to pursue our professional dreams. We thank the residents of Baldwin County for making our area such a great place to live and for allowin
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