IU Health Saxony Delivers High-Tech Heart Health, Health & Hope Closer to Home
Beyond the golden-tipped fields of native Hoosier grasses and through several of Hamilton County’s famed roundabouts sits a nearly hidden gem in Indiana’s healthcare landscape. Indiana University Health Saxony Hospital, located at 146th Street and Olio Road, is one of the best kept secrets northeast of Indianapolis. But Edward Harlamert, MD is determined to spread the word. Dr. Harlamert, founding physician and director of cardiovascular (CV) services at IU Health Saxony, proudly stresses how he and his partners offer the highest level of Cath Lab technology and cardiovascular treatments available at any hospital in the state, without the drive downtown to IU Health Methodist Hospital.
High-Tech, High-Touch Care
In the five years since IU Health Saxony opened its hospital doors, this team of five renowned cardiologists, which includes Dr. Harlamert, have worked to create a private practice feel in their high-tech, academic-focused cardiovascular program.
“We see large health care networks and large hospitals moving toward team care. The difference at a location like Saxony is that it’s smaller, more personal, and one of our cardiologists becomes your total cardiologist. He’s the one you first met when you arrived at the hospital. He’s the same one who reads your echocardiogram. He’s the same one who is going to see you back in the office in two weeks. And yet he’s the one that actually worked on your heart and fixed it,” says Dr. Harlamert. “That kind of personal knowledge is priceless to you but it’s also priceless for your cardiologist. He knows you. He doesn’t have to look you up in the computer and figure out what your past history was. And he knows the history of your family.”
Heart Disease in the Heartland
Cardiovascular disease remains the major killer of people in the United States. Central Indiana is known for having high cholesterol levels as well as for being a place where people work hard but don’t necessarily exercise hard. All of us have stresses in our lives that could lead to heart disease.
By age 50, most of American’s develop a gradually increasing risk for heart disease. Dr. Harlamert encourages patients not to ignore symptoms and risks factors. IU Health Saxony makes it easier than ever to get the care you need to prevent long term damage. “There is ease to access here, it’s a small hospital and you really feel like you’re walking right into your doctor’s front door,” Dr. Harlamert says.
Working to repair the human heart has saved lives since the 1960s. Today cardiac interventions continue to be increasingly less invasive, allowing doctors to work on a heart through smaller and smaller openings.
Expert Care Close to Home
The team includes Sami Aasar, MD, Nathan Lambert, MD and Dr. Harlamert, all interventional cardiologists who are experts at working on hearts and legs to return blood flow to those areas. The team’s newest addition in the vascular arena is A. Farooq Iqtidar, MD. He is highly-skilled at unclogging
arteries and improving blood flow but also has fellowship training at structural heart repair. His advanced training enables him to close holes that may develop in the heart and work on the heart beyond the blood vessels. The fifth member of this team is electrophysiologist Antonio Navarrete, MD, Hoosier resident and native Spaniard. He specializes in fixing heart rhythm disturbances through procedures called ablations.
“So that team is a very high tech team and yet a very personal team that helps care for patients,” Harlamert says.
Your Preventative Care Partners
eHeart health is not something to be feared. Many of the patients who come to the IU Health Saxony heart team put off thinking about the possibility that they could have a heart attack someday, perhaps like their father did. And yet they don’t fear going to the dentist twice a year throughout their lives.
“Your heart is an important part of your body. It’s perhaps the most important part of how we work and live,” says Dr. Harlamert. “If you value anything, you should value your heart. At IU Health Saxony Hospital, fixing hearts is what we do best.”
To learn more about the expert cardiovascular services offered right here in Fishers, visit iuhealth.org/saxony/heart-vascular-care.
