Dorothy and Larry Dallas Heart Center
Innovation is at the heart of the exceptional health care provided at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital. Ever since we opened our doors in 1956, children from across the region have come to us in need of expert care for a variety of issues, including congenital heart defects.
Generous donor support enabled us to undergo a large-scale improvement of our cardiology services, and in 2009, the ribbon was cut to open the Dorothy and Larry Dallas Heart Center. The Dallas Heart Center is home to centralized, comprehensive care for children with heart defects. The latest technology and the expertise of world-class providers ensures the best possible care for our patients and their families.
In addition to high-tech diagnostic testing and cardiac imaging, SSM Health Cardinal Glennon has the region’s only pediatric hybrid cardiac catheterization suite, enabling our team to diagnose and treat issues in a single procedure. The Heart Center also interfaces with our 3-D Center of Excellence in the use of 3-D printed models to assist with heart surgeries. Furthermore, our skilled cardiothoracic surgeons have performed nearly 70 heart transplants since the late 1980s, and our survival rates are measurably higher than the national average.
With the most experienced cardiologists and cardiothoracic surgeons in the region, our Fetal Heart Program, in collaboration with the St. Louis Fetal Care Institute at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon, uses state-of-the-art technology to detect heart defects as early as 18 weeks of gestation. The Fetal Heart team then coordinates care for these babies with specialists from many of our pediatric subspecialties, including maternal-fetal medicine, genetics, neonatology, cardiothoracic surgeons and more.
Demand for our services has grown steadily over the last decade, and now more 6,000 children come to the Center each year. To meet this demand, SSM Health Cardinal Glennon has expanded the Dallas Heart Center to include more treatment and testing rooms and space for additional physicians and residents to work. This expansion enables us to accommodate more families, reducing wait times and improving the overall patient experience.
The Impact of Your Generosity
Your support of the Dallas Heart Center is truly helping transform the lives of the children we serve. Through successful events, like Heart & Soul, vital funds are raised to support large-scale improvements such as the new Electrophysiology Suite, which allows doctors to detect abnormalities through high-definition 3-D imaging created in real time as the heart is beating.
The Heart of Exceptional Care
An important component of world-class health care is a well-trained and highly-qualified staff of caregivers. Your support enables our doctors, nurses and other staff to attend conferences and continuing education courses each year. These opportunities help our staff stay informed about best practices, the latest research and advancements in the field.
The Next Generation
With the advancements in the fields of cardiology and cardiothoracic surgery, in addition to the lifesaving work being done at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon, many children born with heart defects are living well into adulthood. In fact, there are now more adults than children in the U.S. living with congenital heart disease.
Through this added service, our talented staff can facilitate the ongoing continuum of care for our patients into their adult years, enabling SSM Health Cardinal Glennon to remain a trusted provider throughout their lifetimes.
