Inspire 2017 SPRING

Straub: Healing Hearts: A New Hybrid Suite for Straub

In 2009, Lehneer Tactacan was at jiu jitsu practice when he started to feel dizzy. He thought he had just overexerted himself. But soon, the cardiac nurse was so nauseated that he went to the bathroom, fell forward and hit his head. Moments later, Lehneer felt his left chest and shoulder start to cramp. He knew he had to get to a hospital. He was having a heart attack.

“I knew what was happening, but the situation was so surreal,” Lehneer said. “I was only 38 years old, and all I could think about was my wife having to raise our kids on her own. And if I didn’t make it, would my kids be able to remember me?”

At the time, Lehneer was a cardiac nurse at Straub Medical Center, so he was relieved to know the ambulance would be taking him there.

“I trusted Straub because I knew the cardiologists and the rest of the team,” he said. “I knew that if I went to Straub, I would be well taken care of.”

His situation was serious. Dr. Wesley Kai, an interventional cardiologist, took Lehneer straight to the cardiac catheterization lab for surgery. The team began to clear a 100 percent blockage in one of his arteries. After the procedure, Lehneer walked to the third floor for recovery. Within 15 minutes, his chest began to cramp again. He was essentially having another heart attack.

Lehneer stayed at Straub for two days and spent the next three weeks recovering. Now, eight years later, Lehneer is a healthy father of four and back to practicing jiu jitsu, thanks to the quality of care at Straub.

Every year nearly 7,000 inpatient and outpatient surgical procedures are performed at Straub. Of those, 2,000 are lifesaving heart procedures.

“I am a recipient of the lifesaving services that Straub provides to patients, which is why I support anything that will further advance Straub’s innovative care,” Lehneer said.

With the community’s financial support, Straub will expand its heart program with even more groundbreaking care through a new Hybrid Suite. The Hybrid Suite is a combination cardiovascular catheterization lab and surgical procedure room, which can host both catheter-based procedures and open heart surgeries. 

As part of the construction process, Straub’s two existing cath labs will be upgraded and enlarged. Having the most innovative medical technology has been a part of Straub’s legacy for almost 100 years and continues to drive plans for the hospital’s future. The Hybrid Suite will undoubtedly provide life-changing care for many Hawaii families.

“Bottom line is this technology will save lives,” Lehneer said. “The fact that it’s a hybrid suite expands the usage of the room and will magnify the amount of good it can do.”

A Hybrid Suite will bring many benefits to Straub, including:

• Sophisticated high-resolution imaging systems that will improve the speed and accuracy of diagnosis.
• Live “real-time” intraoperative image guidance provides physicians with the ability to evaluate, intervene and assess the results of complex and minimally invasive procedures and open surgical cases.
• An environment that allows physicians across medical specialties to collaborate for the best possible patient care.
• The latest and most innovative treatments for some of our most fragile patients with complex medical problems.
• Eliminating the need to move patients to different rooms for separate treatments which saves time and reduces risk.
• Less trauma and less scarring for patients and an accelerated recovery and rehabilitation.
• Reduction of radiation levels that the patient receives during imaging.
• Shorter hospitalization for post-surgery intensive care.
• The potential to significantly lower the cost of care while improving patient outcomes.