Vascular: John Galles, patient
Attention please, John: Happy 5th Anniversary
If you’ve been to a school ballgame in Kingsley in the past 50 years or so, you probably know John Galles. He’s the one you hear over the public address system, announcing football, basketball volleyball and baseball games and leading the fans in cheerful rounds of “Happy Birthday” or “Happy Anniversary” for anyone who asks.
This year, John is the one celebrating a special anniversary, a commemoration of two decisions that saved his life five years ago. First, though he was 150 miles into a family trip, he stopped at a hospital immediately when chest pains began. Second, he chose to be airlifted to a top-rated vascular center of excellence—back home to Mercy Medical Center-Sioux City.
“Several other hospitals were closer, but they’re not rated as highly as Mercy is,” John says. “Plus, I know a lot of the people who work at Mercy, and I trust them.”
John’s trust is well-placed. In yearly rankings of 5,000 hospitals nationwide, independent analysts at HealthGrades® have ranked Mercy’s Vascular Care #1 in Iowa. Not surprising, the same study places Mercy in the top 10 percent in the entire nation for Vascular Surgery Services.
The awards don’t stop there. HealthGrades’® 2008 studies further honor Mercy and its staff with Awards of Excellence for Vascular Care for the third straight year and add to the accolades a new award for General Surgery Excellence. For overall quality, Mercy for years has also earned HealthGrades’® Distinguished Hospital Award for Patient Safety.
When the Mercy Air Care helicopter rushed John 150 miles back to Sioux City that evening, he experienced first hand the quality of Mercy’s vascular care.
“They discovered quickly that I had an abdominal aortic aneurysm,” he says. “It was serious.”
An abdominal aortic aneurysm is a life-threatening weakness in a large vein, one that is roughly the diameter of a garden hose. By the time most people experience the first outward symptoms of this problem—symptoms John had while traveling—the vein is at risk of rupturing. According to experts, had John’s aneurysm ruptured outside of the hospital, he would have had a 10 percent chance to live.
Mercy’s physicians and staff gave John a choice: either open heart surgery, or a then-new endovascular procedure in which the physician threads a stent through a vein in the leg up to the weakened area. John would be the first patient at Mercy Heart Center to have the procedure.
Born and raised in the area, John knows a lot about Mercy.
“They’re very progressive—they are changing and learning every day,” he says.
With confidence, he chose the new stent procedure.
“The whole hospital was ready for it,” John recalls. “They even had two operating rooms fully staffed for me, so I could have open heart surgery if necessary.”
John’s surgery went smoothly, as did his recovery. Determined to improve his health, he stopped smoking, lost weight and now exercises three times a week.
Today, John is back in the grandstands, announcing ball games and leading fans in anniversary and birthday songs. He’s also clearly a strong fan of the folks at Mercy.
“Because of Mercy staff, I’ve already had five more years of life than I would have,” John says. “This really is a happy anniversary.”
John could have traveled to somewhere like Dallas to get life-saving care. But he’s happy to celebrate this anniversary at home, with the fine medical professionals—and neighbors—at Mercy.