It will take the place of Iowa Heart Center, which announced in April that it would no longer provide 24 hour, seven day a week services in Fort Dodge beginning this fall.

“I am very excited to share with you today that UnityPoint Health will be opening a new outpatient heart center this October,” Leah Glasgo, the president of UnityPoint Health — Fort Dodge, said Thursday morning during an event held at the hospital to announce the new center.

“Trinity Heart Center will provide outpatient cardiology service and will be located right here on our campus,” she added.

Dr. Joseph Cookman, who has been a cardiologist in Fort Dodge since 1997, will be the center’s medical director.

- Messenger photo by Bill Shea
Dr. Joseph Cookman, who will be the medical director of the new Trinity Heart Center, talks about the services it will provide during an announcement at UnityPoint Health-Trinity Regional Medical Center Thursday morning.

“I am very happy and very proud to be part of the new team,” he said Thursday, “We are going to continue providing the care that we have been providing and maybe expand upon that.”

“There are some things that we do better here than they do in Des Moines,” he added.

Dr. Lincoln Wallace, vice president and medical director for clinics, described Cookman as an “outstanding clinician and compassionate doctor” who has been synonymous with heart care in Fort Dodge for more than 20 years.

The staff at the new center will provide regular care and outpatient cardiac testing. It will also work with the hospital’s cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation staff, cardiovascular lab and catheterization lab team to provide cardioversion, heart catheterization and pacemakers.

Patients who need heart surgery will be sent to UnityPoint Health hospitals in Cedar Rapids, Des Moines and Waterloo.

-Messenger photo by Bill Shea
The creation of the new Trinity Heart Center was announced Thursday morning, and a group of UnityPoint Health officials were present to explain the services it will provide. They are, from left, Jennifer Crimmins, regional vice president for clinical operations; Dr. Jeffrey Carstens, medical director for UnityPoint Health cardiology services; Dr. Lincoln Wallace, vice president and medical director (clinic); Dr. Joseph Cookman, medical director of Trinity Heart Center; and Leah Glasgo, president of UnityPoint Health - Fort Dodge.

Jennifer Crimmins, regional vice president for clinical operations, said patients can expect “a personalized treatment plan from trusted experts.”

Wallace said the center will have four to five providers who will be physicians or advanced registered nurse practitioners. He said a provider will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for emergencies.

Cookman said the ability to open a new cardiology clinic was made possible by the efforts made years ago by former hospital presidents Tom Tibbitts and Sue Thompson to grow and improve the hospital.

He said that more recently, the late Kati Kregel, a longtime Fort Dodge resident, was “incredibly instrumental” in getting the heart center established.

In Iowa, hospitals must get a certificate of need from the state government before launching any new services. Kregel was a member of the state’s Certificate of Need Council.

- Messenger photo by Bill Shea
A banner shows the logo of the new Trinity Heart Center at UnityPoint Health -Trinity Regional Medical Center.

Cookman said Kregel stood up to an attorney representing other hospitals that did not want a new heart center in Fort Dodge.

“I won’t say who they were, but they were multiple and loud,” he said.

He said Kregel rebuffed the attorney’s efforts to recuse her from the discussion and vote on the Fort Dodge plan, then voted to approve the certificate of need.

In addition to those who spoke at the event, Glasgo publicly thanked some members of the Trinity staff who played key roles in setting up the heart center. They are Amy Palmer, senior clinic administrator; Beth Spencer, clinic supervisor for Trinity Heart Center; and Jenna Matton, director of cardiology, laboratory and radiology.

Information for patients

Trinity Heart Center is already scheduling appointments even though it will not open until Oct 28.

To schedule an appointment call 515-206-7270.

Trinity Heart Center staff members will be able to help patients of Iowa Heart Center get their records transferred.

Trinity Heart Center will be located on the second floor of Physicians Office Building East, in the space occupied by Iowa Heart Center.