Cardiologist Dr. Vikas Patel joined the community in 2010. He joined a private practice group before transitioning to Riverside Medical Group in 2014.
What led him to Riverside?
“That’s a tough one,” Patel said. “I think the community, the people and opportunities to expand health care in our community excited me.”
The institute’s mission is about providing the services locally, said Lacey Binnendyk, Operations Director Heart & Vascular Institute at Riverside Healthcare.
“Patients don’t have to travel far,” Binnendyk said.
With five interventional cardiologists and five open-heart surgeons, the institute specializes in a wide array of clinical program areas. Those include interventional cardiology, vascular surgery, cardiac-oncology, electrophysiology, cardiovascular surgery, cardiopulmonary rehabilitation and diagnostic services, as well as maintaining a graduate medical education program and research programs.
It is for this reason that Riverside Heart & Vascular Institute was selected as Innovator in Healthcare for the Daily Journal’s 2024 Progress Awards.
“The Heart & Vascular Institute has been an integral part for Riverside,” Patel said.
“As a team, we have developed a more comprehensive care for patients in our community. We have gradually expanded and now we have general cardiology, interventional cardiology, electrophysiology, vascular surgery, interventional radiology and cardiothoracic service lines.
“This is unique and has helped improve overall patient care in the community as we are communicating as a team for the patient. Additionally, as part of the team, we have teaching conferences that have also improved the group.”
The Riverside Heart & Vascular Institute team brings the latest technology and the most advanced procedures to the community to improve and save lives. Riverside is the only Kankakee-area hospital performing open heart surgery.
Team is vital to the success of the institute, Patel said.
“The teamwork of the ancillary staff, nursing team, physicians and administrative support,” Patel explained.
<strong>‘TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE’</strong>
Binnendyk has been with the institute for two years.
While touring the institute during her interview process, Binnendyk said she experienced firsthand the teamwork.
“You think it is too good to be true, but it is that way,” Binnendyk said.
The institute uses innovation and technology together to add more local services.
The Riverside Cardiac and Neuro Diagnostics Center opened in 2023 to offer expanded access to diagnostic testing, which includes Holter monitoring, electroencephalography, stress tests, echocardiograms and tilt table tests.
Members of the Interventional Cardiology team and the Vascular Surgery team have brought minimally invasive procedures to Kankakee.
In 2023, the vascular surgery team started performing the transcarotid artery revascularization procedure at Riverside.
TCAR is a minimally invasive procedure that can clear blockages and open a narrowed carotid artery.
In the future, the institute will add mitral valve therapies including mitral clips, Patel said.
“The mitral clip procedure is a percutaneous [less invasive] method to help patients who have severe mitral valve regurgitation who may otherwise not be a good candidate for open-heart surgery to repair their heart valves,” Patel explained.
New procedures, better cardio rehabilitating and increasing the institute’s footprint to provide more people in a four-county-wide area are areas of growth.
But it all comes back to helping the patient.
“The key to success for the Heart & Vascular Institute is having the patient at the center of care,” Patel said. “In addition, the continued expansion of teamwork within the organization will help improve access and types of therapies in the community.”