St. Elizabeth Healthcare and St. Elizabeth Physicians are bringing more than 30 multi-specialty Heart & Vascular Institute physicians and 30 advanced practice providers from multiple office sites to one central location in Edgewood, Kentucky with the opening of a new 67,000-square-foot building. The new facility will make scheduling appointments with multiple heart specialists more convenient for patients and improve coordination of care, while allowing St. Elizabeth to streamline advanced heart care in the region.

St. Elizabeth is able to treat even more community members who have complex cardiac needs with generous support from William (Bill) J. Yung III. The $7 million donation (largest in St. Elizabeth history) will be used for facilities, equipment and physician recruitment. The Heart & Vascular Institute has been renamed the Florence Wormald Heart & Vascular Institute at St. Elizabeth after Yung’s mother, whose courage, independence and pioneering spirit served as a catalyst in his life.

“My mother always pushed me to do things for myself—to work for myself, to spend money to make money,” said Yung. “That advice has been key to my business success, which is why I’m honored to support the St. Elizabeth Heart & Vascular Institute with a gift in her name. My hope is that this donation will help attract even more top physicians and researchers while enhancing access to elite cardiovascular care, right here in the community we call home."

Since its opening in 2015, the Heart & Vascular Institute has made tremendous progress toward its foundational goal of decreasing heart-related deaths in Northern Kentucky by 25 percent by 2025 — and the new Edgewood facility is a momentous step in that direction. During the last six years, St. Elizabeth has added numerous cardiac specialists and adopted leading-edge technology, including wireless pacemakers small enough to fit inside the heart, implantable heart pumps that extend life for patients with heart failure, and heart valves that can be replaced without open heart surgery.

“At St. Elizabeth, our number one priority is our patients. With the opening of the new facility, we are uniquely positioned to offer exceptional cardiac care and patient experience in one central location: close to home,” shared D.P. Suresh, MD, Cardiologist and Executive Medical Director of the St. Elizabeth Heart & Vascular Institute.

Set to welcome patients on November 8, the building will feature cardiology, cardiac electrophysiology, cardiac surgery, cardiac rehabilitation, an outpatient cath lab, the Advanced Heart Failure Management Center, the Structural Heart & Valve Center, diagnostic services, cardiovascular genetics, cardiac clinical trials, and an on-site lab.

The significant investment made by St. Elizabeth in state-of-the-art heart care facilities, treatment options and cardiovascular specialists is yet another demonstration of the System’s commitment to providing the most advanced and innovative care, leading the communities it serves to become the healthiest in America.

“We’re thrilled by the opportunity to expand our Heart & Vascular service footprint with this new facility, complementing our multiple locations throughout Northern Kentucky and Southeastern Indiana. This new component of the Heart & Vascular Institute will offer personalized care delivered by advanced, innovative technology designed to improve health outcomes,” said Victor Schmelzer, MD, Cardiac Surgeon and Medical Director of the Heart & Vascular Institute.