Mark Freiwald (left) speaks about his cardiac journey with RWJBarnabas Health to attendees of the Heart and Vascular Patient Reunion celebration, including Robert Carlucci (left to right) and Dr. Conor Barrett
Lakewood, NJ- In recognition of American Heart Month in February, the RWJBarnabas Health Heart and Vascular service line is recognizing the lifesaving and lifechanging care provided by its Heart and Vascular care teams with its annual patient reunion celebrations. As a part of this systemwide celebration, Monmouth Medical Center Southern Campus (MMCSC) hosted a reunion with patient Mark Freiwald, Brick, in the Cardiopulmonary Rehab Unit on February 18th.
Mark, a Security Supervisor at MMCSC, was just finishing his shift in April 2022 when he began to feel uncomfortable. “It was around 3 p.m., and I was getting ready to leave,” says Mark, 57. “I felt a little warm, so I opened the window to my office, but that didn’t seem to help.”
He went to the men’s room and splashed some water on his face. When he came back to his office, he felt some chest discomfort but didn’t make much of it. Coworkers, however, noticed something seemed off, and initiated a chain of care that got him the help he needed. “They said, ‘We have to get you to the ED,’ and they called a rapid response code,” Mark says.
A nurse and hospitalist physician dashed to Mark’s side, and he was rushed to MMCSC’s ED, where doctors determined he was having a heart attack.
“He had a classic presentation of a heart attack — new onset of progressive chest discomfort, profuse sweating and heavy breathing that persisted beyond 30 minutes,” says Arturo Jimenez, MD, an emergency medicine physician at MMCSC. EKG readings and a rapid assessment to rule out other conditions confirmed the diagnosis, and Mark was quickly given medications to thin his blood, prevent or dissolve clots, lower cholesterol, stave off abnormal heart rhythms and dilate blood vessels to restore his blood flow and achieve what clinicians call coronary artery reperfusion.
Once he was stabilized, Mark was transported to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH) in New Brunswick, where he underwent a cardiac catheterization procedure in which doctors cleared a 100 percent blocked heart artery and inserted two stents to keep it open.
Strength Through Rehab
MMCSC continued to play a critical role in Mark’s heart health. After discharge from a weeklong stay at RWJUH, he recovered at home for a few weeks before returning to work. Shortly after that, he began cardiac rehabilitation twice a week at MMCSC and finished 18 sessions over the summer.
“Everything went extremely well, and the staff in cardiac rehab was amazing,” he said. ‘They were all very supportive; helpful, friendly and attentive.”
Diane Carpino, RN, an MMCSC cardiac rehabilitation nurse, said specialists at the program not only help heart attack patients recover, but also work with patients who have conditions such as congestive heart failure and stable angina or have undergone heart transplants or heart valve replacements. She adds patients typically come to the center two or three times a week to strengthen their heart and establish a fitness routine that they can do on their own when their rehabilitation ends.
“The goal with cardiac rehab is to increase cardiovascular fitness as tolerated,” says cardiac rehabilitation nurse Hazelle Meneses, RN. “It’s a process. We start slowly with patients, then build them up while monitoring their hearts.”
At the reunion, Mark gathered with the Cardiac Rehab team, staff from the Emergency Department who were scheduled the day Mark was suffering cardiac arrest, members of MMCSC’s hospital leadership and RWJBarnabas Health Heart and Vascular service line leadership, including Dr. Conor Barrett, Senior Vice President & Chief Clinical Officer, Heart and Vascular service line.
Mark feels grateful for the proverbial village of people who helped with his treatment and recovery, many of whom he works with every day at MMCSC.
Learn more about our comprehensive heart and vascular services.
Contact: Laurie Zalepka
732-886-4590
Lauriea.zalepka@rwjbh.org