Carson Valley Health receives $3.6M grant for cardiac cath lab

GARDNERVILLE, Nev. – Carson Valley Health received a $3.6 million grant to build and equip a hybrid cardiac catheterization lab/interventional radiology lab and purchase a new fixed x-ray device for its cardiac care center in Gardnerville.

Cardiac catheterization labs, or cardiac cath labs, allow physicians to diagnose and treat cardiovascular disease through minimally invasive tests and advanced cardiac procedures including ablation, angiograms, angioplasty and the implantation of devices including pacemakers and implantable cardioverter defibrillators.

The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust has added Nevada as the eighth state in its Rural Healthcare Program, announcing more than $11.3 million in grants to help 10 Nevada hospitals purchase state-of-the-art diagnostic and radiology equipment and expand simulation-based training.

The funding, announced Tuesday at events hosted by Dignity Health-St. Rose Dominican Hospital in Henderson and Renown Health in Reno, marks the Helmsley Charitable Trust’s latest rural healthcare grants, which over the past decade have provided more than $500 million to efforts that use information technologies to connect rural patients to emergency medical care, bring the latest medical therapies to patients in remote areas and provide state-of-the-art training for rural hospitals and EMS personnel.

Jeff Prater, CEO of Carson Valley Health, said the goal of rural healthcare is to keep care as close to home as possible.

“Many patients we serve at Carson Valley Health must resort to driving in excess of 150 miles round trip to seek the care this grant addresses,” he said. “These sometimes arduous travel miles not only can place a burden on the patients but also the families who care for them.”

Prater said the gift will bring a cardiac cath lab to the Carson Valley which will have a long term and significant impact on the healthcare delivery to the over 55,000 people CVH serves by providing this very important lifesaving care closer to home.

“On behalf of Carson Valley Health, its staff, Board of Directors, and the patients under our care, I want to thank the Leona M. And Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust for their generous grant which will ensure cardiovascular care to the patients we serve now and for future generations,” Prater said.

Other Nevada hospitals receiving grant funding from the Helmsley Charitable Trust include Boulder City Hospital, Grover C. Dils Medical Center in Caliente, Pershing General Hospital in Lovelock, William Bee Ririe Hospital in Ely, Incline Village Community Hospital, South Lyon Medical Center in Yerington, Dignity Health-St. Rose Dominican Hospital in Henderson, and the Nevada Community Foundation for equipment for Desert View Hospital in Pahrump and Mesa View Regional Hospital in Mesquite.