Medical Breakthroughs

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You might not know it, but Wichita’s medical community stacks up against Houston, Denver and some of the nation’s largest cities. Our talented health care professionals are working with technology you might have never dreamed possible.

For the rest of us, that means living in Wichita could mean living longer. From a cancer survivor of more than 30 years to a farmer who nearly died twice, read about seven grateful patients who have learned first-hand how Wichita’s medical community is changing lives.

At Death’s Door—Twice
Terry Paxson, Penokee

Although he’s faced death, Terry Paxson has survived and can today jokingly refer to himself as “The Bionic Man.” It was last November, as the farmer and electrician from Penokee, Kansas was unloading milo, that his tractor’s drive shaft suddenly malfunctioned, puncturing his right lung, cracking his ribs, breaking his right leg and causing severe internal damage. Paxson was rushed to Graham County Hospital and airlifted to Hays Medical Center. Medics revived him twice before he went into a deep coma. Paxson awoke two months later to discover he had missed Christmas. He stayed in the hospital for three and a half months. Even after he was released, his lungs filled up with fluid every two to three weeks, and only eight percent of his heart was working. On five separate occasions, doctors drained his lungs when he experienced congestive heart failure.

That’s when doctors asked Paxson if he would consider becoming the first patient in the Great Plains to receive the Jarvik 2000 FlowMaker—a silent, miniature ventricular assist device (VAD) invented by Robert Jarvik, who invented the world’s first VAD. Previously, the closest facility to offer the procedure was in Houston, Texas. That is, until Dr. Wade Fischer and other members of the team at the Via Christi Transplant Insitute trained to bring the procedure to Wichita.

Paxson began reading more about the device and talking to people with other types of VADs. Although Paxson never attended medical school, he immediately understood how the small device works. While pulling irrigation wells, Paxson learned how a centrifugal pump on a much larger scale is used to pull liquids through a pumping system. The Jarvik 2000 uses the same principle to help restore normal blood flow to the heart. “Everything I read about the procedure made me want to do it,” he says. But since the Jarvik 2000 is still in clinical trial stages in the United States and, therefore, is not covered by health insurance or offered to anyone. Paxson’s case, however, was different. The 48-year-old father of four was eligible for workers’ compensation and healthy enough to qualify for the procedure. “I’m as healthy as a horse, except for my heart,” he boasts.

In April, Dr. Jarvik and his team traveled to Via Christi-St. Francis to oversee Kansas’ first-ever Jarvik 2000 operation. Dr. Jarvik and his team looked on while Dr. Fischer performed the procedure with the help of Dr. Walter O’Hara Jr. In all, the surgery took four hours, and Paxson was up the next day. Afterward, he took only a single shot of morphine and Tylenol to deal with the pain. He was released three weeks later with a tube running from the small device implanted in his heart to an external controller that allows him to manually regulate and adjust his heart rate.

Today, Paxson is optimistic of finding work as a handyman since he can’t return to farming because of the occupation’s health hazards. He’s also considering becoming a dispatcher for the Graham County volunteer fire department.

In the mean time, the good-natured man is able to joke about his situation. “It was a drive line that nearly killed me,” says Paxson. “Now it’s a drive line running to my heart that’s saving my life.” —J.M.

Other advancements . . .
Remote Control
Good communication can save lives. That’s the goal of Via Christi’s eCare Intensive Care Unit. The remote viewing center at Highway 96 and Webb Road provides additional real-time monitoring at a distance and helps Via Christi specialists reduce the length of time that patients stay in the ICU. As a result, the remote service lowers mortality risks.

While in intensive care units at Via Christi’s St. Francis and St. Joseph campuses, Mercy Regional Health Center in Manhattan and Mt. Carmel Medical Center in Pittsburg, patients are under 24-hour electronic surveillance. Technicians use headsets to talk directly to onsite medical personnel. Each station is equipped with five computer screens that analyze blood sugar levels, blood clot risks and more. Cameras show the rooms, but the eCare system also alerts technicians about patients who need attention. The computers display trends that health professionals can use to prevent problems or intervene early in emergencies. The eCare manager reads bedside monitors and the lab system, and pulls information that’s accessible at the click of a button. As the only eCare network in Kaansas, Via Christi monitors 143 intensive care beds and helped save 109 lives last year.