For Northwest Louisiana, the nearest hospital offering heart transplants is in Dallas, Texas. This makes the partnership between Advanced Cardiovascular Specialists and the heart transplant program in Dallas a vital resource for the Shreveport community and for anyone in the region facing heart failure who needs advanced care.

Kellie Hart, BSN, RN, Heart Failure Clinic Coordinator:
In North Louisiana, we don’t have any hospitals that offer heart transplant or mechanical heart pumps. In this community, the closest we have is Dallas. I think those partnerships are pivotal because these patients sometimes are critically ill.

Kevin, LVAD Patient:
I went to Kellie and Elizabeth. Well, I called them first, and they set me an appointment: emergency appointment at ACS. When I got there, it was like, “Oh, you’re looking kind of rough there. Let us check you.” That’s when Baylor got involved. The doctors and nurses out there were an extension of the doctors and nurses at ACS. It was just like family. They treated me well also because they had information from ACS before I even got there. They collaborated all the time with them, and they communicated well. When I got there, it was everything. It wasn’t a void. It was just continuously good care. It put my mind at ease, so I wouldn’t have to do it myself. I didn’t have to worry about doing it. All I had to worry about is my health and my diet. It took a burden off my shoulders by them doing that.

Charles, Transplant Patient:
I told my wife … I had been sleeping and got up. I told her, ‘I don’t feel well, honey.’ It was just a peculiar kind of feeling, but I didn’t feel well. What happened is she brought me over to Highland to the emergency room.

Kellie:
He walked into the office and saw us. We instantly recognized it. We knew he was in trouble. We made one phone call, and he was transferred that evening. He was able to get a heart transplant a few days later.

Charles:
That continuity that started from them to Baylor kept me alive, kept me strong enough because I would have probably never got admitted if it had not been for Liz, Kellie and Dr. Guzman.

Kellie and Elizabeth Willis, RN, APRN, FNP-BC, Heart Failure Clinic Nurse Practitioner:
We were talking on the phone. When he was in Dallas, we would call him. We were there to help, you know, answer his questions and his family’s questions and to keep encouraging him. I think that helped quite a bit. I think so.