The Heart of Healing

Comprehensive Cardiac Care

Every morning, Rome resident Anthony Diprima follows a similar routine. The morning of Aug. 14, 2023, was no different.

“I had walked three miles that morning at Berry College, came home and planted two trees,” said Diprima, the college’s former grounds superintendent.

He and his wife, Susan, then left for an appointment and stopped for gas about two miles from home.

“I paid for my gas and walked out to the truck, put the nozzle in and flipped the spring-loaded switch, and I went down,” said Diprima, then 72. “I don’t remember anything after flipping that switch in the nozzle.”

Susan, a retired registered nurse, heard the fall and started CPR while someone called 911. Firefighters from the fire station across the street arrived quickly to take over CPR.

“I’ve never experienced a greater scare,” Susan said. “Thank God the fire department was right there.”

Diprima said he has no memory of what happened over the next 48 hours but was told the paramedics had to use a portable defibrillator to deliver electric shocks across his chest six times before they regained a pulse and could transport him by ambulance to AdventHealth Redmond.

The hospital is certified by the Georgia Department of Health as a Level 1 Emergency Cardiac Care Center and the only hospital within a 40-mile radius that offers open-heart surgery, an electrophysiology lab and six operating cardiac catheterization labs.

“They rushed him straight to the cath lab,” Susan said. The specially trained cath lab team used state-of-the-art equipment to image and examine Diprima’s heart and rule out initial concerns that he had experienced a stroke.

“They told my wife that one artery was 100 percent blocked and one was 98 and one 88,” he said.

The news of the blockages and his need for coronary artery bypass surgery came as a surprise to Diprima, a former marine reservist who lived an active lifestyle and had no family history of heart disease.

“Prior to this, I never had any chest pains,” he said. “I never had any shoulder pains. I never had anything that would identify that something was a problem. I walked, ran and biked for 50 years.”

Yet scans suggested Diprima likely experienced previous minor heart attacks that he hadn’t noticed.

He underwent a “quadruple and a quarter” bypass surgery four days after his arrival at AdventHealth Redmond. The procedure, performed by board-certified cardiothoracic surgeon Cyrus Parsa, MD, effectively re-routed blood to Diprima’s heart by taking a vein or artery from his leg and connecting it above and below the arteries that were blocked or narrowed by the buildup of cholesterol and fat.

“He is an example of how a health care system should work for a patient,” Dr. Parsa said. “It took his wife being perceptive and starting care right away, to the firefighters and EMTs who saved his life in the first place, to the cardiologists and our care of him to get him to the point he is today.”

Diprima agreed, saying a chain of people saved his life that day.

“I wouldn’t have lived if any part of the chain had broken,” he said.

He also credits the proximity of the hospital and the fast actions of everyone involved with the fact that he hasn’t experienced any neurological deficits from the incident.

The couple said they appreciated the time Diprima’s care team took to explain the recommended treatment plan and answer questions, as well as the compassion with which they were treated during his three-week stay in the hospital.

“It was just seamless,” Susan said. “Every step, from the time that he was in the ER and then to the cath lab and then CCU (critical care unit) and the floor and surgery to ICU (intensive care unit), the level of care never changed. They always made sure that I understood what was happening and that I was taken care of.”

Diprima praised the bedside manner of the nurses and staff.

“There’s nothing I wanted for,” he said. “They made me feel like I was the only patient they saw.” He also said Dr. Parsa checked in on him often and took the time to answer his questions.

“If I could have picked a doctor, he would have been my pick,” Diprima said. “I couldn’t say anything negative. I didn’t feel like it was a doctor-patient relationship; it was like a friendship.”

Dr. Parsa is one of three board-certified cardiothoracic surgeons who provide coronary bypass procedures, mitral valve repairs and replacements, Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) and other leading-edge surgeries for cardiothoracic disorders at AdventHealth Redmond. He practices alongside Ademola Adeseye, MD, and Dhru Girard, MD, at AdventHealth Medical Group Cardiothoracic Surgery at Redmond Road.

“As a group, because we are in a smaller community hospital, we have to be broad scoped in everything, but all three of us maintain subspecialties and niches we favor,” Dr. Parsa said. “Dr. Girard is our specialist in thoracic oncology work and atrial arrhythmia management. Dr. Adeseye does thoracic oncology and spearheaded our robotic surgical program. I focus on structural heart aspects, which include transcatheter therapies.”

Dr. Parsa said making sure patients understand their treatment options and the risks and benefits associated with each are important to ensuring the best outcomes.

“We are very patient and outcome focused, and, at the end of the day, we want patients to feel they received good results, regardless of whether they were surgical or not,” he said.

Dr. Parsa said the cardiothoracic group is part of a larger multidisciplinary team at AdventHealth Redmond that ensures patients receive comprehensive care.

“An asset of this institute is we are fortunate to have a close relationship with our cardiology colleagues,” he said.

A fellowship-trained electrophysiologist and seven board-certified cardiologists with AdventHealth Medical Group Cardiac Electrophysiology at Rome and AdventHealth Medical Group Cardiology at Rome use modern-day medicines with leading-edge technologies to diagnose and treat patients with coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, atrial fibrillation (AFib) and other disorders of the heart or arteries.

Dr. Parsa said the two groups regularly meet to discuss patient cases and collaborate on care plans with the goal of helping patients maximize optimum health, whether their options include surgery, medical therapy or alternative treatments.

“We cannot exist without the multidisciplinary support of the team as a whole and other surgical and medical subspecialties,” he said. “Collaboration is the key. Having many people thinking about a problem and having their expertise to weigh in on their domain is invaluable and patients benefit.”

Following his surgery, Diprima completed a three-month cardiac rehabilitation program offered through AdventHealth Redmond.

“I could tell from day to day, the recovery just got a little bit better each day,” he said. “It was a very good experience, and I highly recommend the rehab. You can’t do this on your own.”

Today, Diprima, who takes medications to manage his blood pressure and cholesterol, is back to walking at Berry College and tending to his 80-acre residence.

“I feel pretty confident I can do anything I did before the cardiac arrest,” he said.

He and his wife said no one wants to have a heart problem that requires surgery, but knowing AdventHealth Redmond is nearby should they need it, eases their minds.

“I have on my list about a dozen people who made a difference in my recovery,” he said. “I couldn’t imagine any better care than what I received.”