Grateful patient Ira Rosenau, in the blue shirt and black jacket, and his family came back to HUP to thank the staff involved in his care.
As 52-year-old Ira Rosenau of Bala Cynwyd was returning from a ski trip with his son last March, he suffered a heart attack that nearly killed him. On their way home from the airport, as it became harder to breathe, Rosenau insisted his wife get him to the Emergency Department (ED) at HUP. The ED team quickly determined he was having an acute heart attack. In a fluke event, a small piece of plaque had ruptured in one of the arteries supplying blood to his heart, leading to a blood clot at the site that caused a complete blockage of the vessel.
Things only got worse from there. His heart stopped completely – full cardiac arrest – on his way to an emergency procedure in the cardiac catheterization lab. Rosenau then stopped breathing. And his lungs collapsed. But after eight defibrillator shocks, 25 minutes of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), the emergency placement of a breathing tube for ventilation, and an ECMO machine to do the work of his heart, Rosenau was resuscitated, the problem artery was cleared, two stents were inserted, and he was placed into a coma for nine days to let his heart recover.
Rosenau not only survived but has had a complete recovery, due to “the extremely efficient and heroic efforts by many members of the cardiovascular team – including physicians, nurses, and technicians with Cardiology, Cardiovascular Surgery, and Cardiovascular Anesthesia,” said cardiologist Jay S. Giri, MD, MPH, associate director of the Cardiovascular Catheterization Laboratories and director of Coronary & Peripheral Intervention. “There are very few teams, regionally or nationally, that could have pulled this off. It is proof of what is possible with a coordinated team, even when circumstances appear dire.”
Ira Rosenau, center, with his wife, Jennifer, and cardiologist Jay S. Giri, MD, MPH
In August, Rosenau, his wife, and several family members returned to HUP to host an appreciation lunch for the staff involved in his care from the Cardiac Surgical Intensive Care Unit, the Emergency Department, and the cardiac cath lab. Rosenau said it was “an incredible, memorable day” meeting Cardiac Recovery Unit nurses Amy Fox, MSN, and Jason Anderson, RN; cardiac cath technologist Biniam Kidane, RCIS, and nurse Elaina Potts, BSN, from the cath lab; and the doctors who shepherded him to survival. Many hugs were shared, and tears shed.
“They do such valuable work with kindness, grace, and humor. I am forever in their debt,” Rosenau said. He reserved a special thanks for Giri, who he said has “excellent hands, and an even better heart.”
The event was a tremendous morale booster for the team. Fox said she has worked in an ICU for 10 years, and “I have never once had somebody come back to thank us. I’ve never seen a patient that I’ve saved again. It was incredible.”