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This spring, Faith Towle of Raymond, Maine, is enjoying her garden again and literally smelling the flowers. Her activity was limited last spring because she was hospitalized with a ventricular assist device (VAD) while awaiting a heart transplant.
“This time last year I sat while my daughter planted my annuals for me. I couldn’t do it,” said Towle, 66, who received a heart transplant in May 2005. “This year I’m back to doing things in a normal way.”
Thanks to a Brigham and Women’s outreach program and collaboration with Maine Medical Center, Towle receives BWH’s world-class cardiac care near her hometown. And she’s not alone, as last month she was among nearly 160 VAD and heart transplant recipients to attend a dinner at the Dockside Restaurant in York, Maine. The dinner celebrated the second chance given to more than 500 patients and their families since BWH’s heart transplantation program began in 1984.
“I was able to stand next to the two doctors who put me back together,” Towle said, referring to Lou Russo, MD, of Maine Medical Center, and Gregory Couper, MD, of BWH, who performed her VAD implantation and heart transplant, respectively.
The BWH and MMC heart failure/transplant program enables Towle and many other heart transplant recipients and VAD patients to receive BWH’s cutting-edge care in Maine. That means these patients and their families do not have to travel hours to Boston each month for check ups. Instead, a cardiac team from BWH, including Gilbert Mudge, MD, James Fang, MD, Michael Givertz, MD, and Linda James, NP, comes to them through BWH’s satellite clinic. At MMC, the BWH team works collaboratively with local heart failure specialists, including Paul McGrath, MD, Joseph Wight, MD, and Lori Barron, NP.
“We started the satellite program at MMC since close to 50 of our transplant patients are from Maine,” James said. “MMC is up to 2.5 hours closer for many of our patients.”