Barnwell County Hospital is a heartbeat away from opening its new cardiac program.

Starting March 2, the hospital will be offering new services to the community with a father-son duo of cardiologists from Augusta University Hospital.

The cardiologists - Weems Pennington Jr. and Weems Pennington III - will be at the hospital every Tuesday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

"These are services that people can have here now - instead of traveling to Aiken, Augusta or Columbia," said hospital CEO Mary Valliant.

Nuclear stress tests, echocardiograms, monitors and doctor consultations will help save lives; identify heart problems and offer convenience to county patients.

Medicare statistics from 2008 show 422 people left Barnwell County to get a nuclear test, said Valliant.

With a nuclear stress test a patient is injected with harmless radioactive dye and runs on a treadmill, said Mike Kirkland, the chief nursing officer for the hospital.

A nuclear stress test provides more data and accuracy than the older exercise electrocardiograms, he said.

The test shows the current condition; previous injuries to and dimensional pictures of the heart, said Kirkland.

Kirkland said patients should keep their appointment because the radioactive dye is expensive "and the physician has to eat the cost" if the appointment is cancelled.

Echocardiograms uses ultrasound to check the heart.

The procedure "takes measurements of the chambers of the heart, the blood flow and determines the actual amount of how much blood the heart is pumping out," said Kirkland.

Monitoring allows a patient to take the instrument home while providing a 24-hour EKG for the cardiologists, he said.

The Penningtons will also consult with Barnwell emergency room doctors. The consultations allow a patient to get immediate treatment, said Valliant.
Time is of the essence when patients have cardiac problems, said Kirkland.

"Time is muscle - the greater the amount of time the heart is not getting the proper oxygen - the greater the muscle loss and cardiac muscle does not regenerate," said Kirkland.