Medical Services • Heart Care

Exceeding national standards in cardiovascular care

Northwest Community Hospital is ranked among the top hospitals in Illinois for cardiovascular healthcare, both in the number of procedures we do and in patient results. People come to us from all over the Chicago area seeking help from our heart care specialists with their heart attack symptoms, signs of congestive heart failure and heart valve symptoms.

Our surgical teams perform thousands of procedures a year on their behalf, including open heart surgeries like valve repair and replacement and cardiac bypass. It's this experience that has helped us exceed national benchmarks for the quality of our cardiovascular care.

NCH is ranked among the top hospitals in Illinois for cardiovascular health care, both in the number of procedures and patient results. Our surgical teams perform thousands of surgical procedures every year, more than 325 of them open-heart surgeries—more than some of Chicago’s leading teaching hospitals. It’s this experience that has helped us exceed national benchmarks for the quality of our cardiovascular care.

Multidisciplinary team of cardiac experts

At NCH, a highly respected team of cardiologists, cardiovascular surgeons, electrophysiology specialists and clinical support staff works together to care for patients with all types of cardiovascular diseases. We can diagnose, treat and provide rehabilitation for the full range of chronic and acute heart problems, including arteriosclerosis, congestive heart failure, irregular heartbeats and peripheral valve disease.

• Cardiologists diagnose and treat cardiovascular diseases using the latest non-invasive and non-surgical techniques such as echocardiography, CT angiography, cardiac catheterization and interventional procedures.
• EP specialists diagnose and treat abnormal heart rhythms. NCH EP teams are among the most experienced in the region, having been ranked among the top five in the Chicago area for the volume of EP procedures performed. EP specialists from the Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation bring additional depth and expertise to the NCH team.
• Cardiovascular surgeons operate on the heart and blood vessels to repair damage caused by diseases or disorders of the cardiovascular system.

National recognition

Expertise in treating heart attacks, and especially with early heart attack symptoms, mild heart attack symptoms and women's heart attack symptoms, has earned NCH special designation as an accredited Chest Pain Center by the Society of Chest Pain Centers. We have also been designated a Primary Stroke Center for our expertise in caring for patients with stroke symptoms.

Most recently, NCH has been named as one of the 100 Top Hospitals for Cardiovascular Care by Thomson Reuters, a global healthcare information company. This annual study focused on short-term, acute care, non-federal U.S. hospitals that treat a broad spectrum of cardiology patients.

The specially trained nurses in the NCH Critical Care Unit have received both the Beacon Award for Critical Care Excellence from the American Association of Critical Care Nursing and Magnet™ Recognition for Nursing Excellence from the American Nurses Credentialing Center: 2006-2010 national designation.

Other awards include:

• Echo Lab Accreditation—one of the first in the area to be accredited

Expanded pediatric clinical expertise

Through NCH's unique partnership with Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, NCH pediatricians have the ability to transmit digital echocardiograms to Lurie Children's electronically and review them in real time with Lurie Children's pediatric cardiologists to help diagnose heart problems in infants and children.

To get a physician referral for your heart care, call HealthConnection at 847.618.4YOU (4968), view our team of heart care specialists, or use our online tool to find a physician who is right for you.