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NEWPORT — Newport Community Hospital announced echocardiography services are now available locally three days a week.
Previously offered intermittently through Providence Spokane Cardiology and MultiCare Pulse in Newport, the service is now staffed in-house and available by referral on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.
According to Kim Manus, chief executive officer, demand for expanded echocardiography services justified the addition. She added that area medical providers strongly advocated for bringing the service in-house. Newport Hospital and Health Services Foundation supported the expansion with $54,000 to purchase the specialized equipment.
Jennifer Means, Newport Community Hospital’s Medical Imaging Manager, said, “Offering echocardiography three days a week truly means a lot to us. Our patients deserve timely answers without the stress of long drives or waiting weeks for an appointment. With our advanced equipment and the specialized training our team has completed, we can provide the same highquality cardiac imaging you’d expect from a larger medical center.
At the end of the day, this expansion is about caring for our neighbors and ensuring people can get the cardiac care they need — right here at home.”
The service expansion was made possible through a yearlong collaboration with Providence Spokane Cardiology, which assisted with training NCH cardiac sonography technologists, coordinating workflows and optimizing processes for cardiologists interpreting the studies.
“Providence is grateful for the chance to support our rural partners as we work together to expand access to specialty care.
Seeing Echo come online means people in this community can receive the care they need closer to home, and that is something that truly matters to us,” said Susan Stacey, Providence chief executive.
Echocardiography is an ultrasound examination of the heart used to detect heart failure, congenital heart disease, tumors, blood clots, and to evaluate damage following a heart attack.
More information is available at www.NewportHospitalAndHealth. org.
