By Mark Waite

Another sign Desert View Hospital is growing its repertoire of medical procedures, the first pacemaker operation in Pahrump recently took place there. Colonoscopies are something new there as well.

The increasing number of procedures reduces the need for patients to take a trip over Mountain Springs Pass, then return after a doctor’s visit.

Cardiologist Dr. Stephen Savran installed the first pacemaker at Desert View Hospital on Nov. 30. Cardiologist Dr. Irfan Mirza followed with another pacemaker installation a few weeks later.

“There’s all kinds of services we added recently, that being a key one we added in the community,” hospital Marketing Director James Oscarson said. “That could be done here as opposed to other places.”

A pacemaker is a device about the size of a pocket watch, inserted near the heart that uses electrical pulses to prompt the heart to beat normally.

“I knew the hospital was clean, I knew the hospital was well staffed,” Savran said.

The head of the operating room, Lisa Lytle, and hospital administrator Susan Davila were excited about the procedure, he said.

“The first pacemaker went wonderfully; there were no glitches, no problems, everything went wonderful, perfectly according to plan. The nurses knew what they were doing, the anesthesiologist knew what he was doing,” Savran said.

A cardiologist on the hospital staff, Dr. Fred Siegel, who is also the Desert View Hospital chief of staff, gave post-operative care to the patient who received the new pacemaker and sent him home the next day, Savran said.

“I plan on doing whatever pacemakers I can do on patients in Nye County at Desert View. I’m real happy with it. I’ve been doing pacemakers for over five years in Mesquite at Mesa View Hospital; that has a comparable number of beds, comparable staff, never had any problems at Mesa View, so I knew doing it at Desert View would work well,” Savran said. “I can assure people in Pahrump having it done at Desert View is much more convenient for them and is perfectly fine from my point of view.”

Oscarson said three doctors from Pahrump Gastroenterology — Dr. Adedayo Mokuolo, Dr. Bipin Saud and Dr. Michael Zimmerman — have been performing colonoscopies at Desert View since October. Specialists from Pahrump Gastroenterology visit the hospital every Tuesday and Thursday.

Dr. Osama Haikal, senior partner in Pahrump Gastroenterology, said he encourages patients from Pahrump still traveling to his Las Vegas clinic to get the procedure at Desert View.

It’s much more convenient to have a colonoscopy done locally, he said, since it often involves taking time off work, using laxatives and even a difficulty finding people who can drive the patient home.

“The fact they have state-of-the art equipment, a hospital that is very clean and well run, I will have my colonoscopy done there any time,” Haikal said. “They have very well-trained staff. With our experienced gastroentereologist, there’s nothing else needed to provide the service right there.”

Haikal said he visited Desert View with the administrators, toured the endoscopy suite and talked to doctors and nurses before deciding to locate his practice there.

“I felt very comfortable they were providing me everything I could get in the local hospitals that’s three to four times the size,” he said.

Pahrump Gastroenterology is now doing several colonoscopies every week at Desert View, he said.

A colonoscopy is recommended for patients over 50; it involves inserting a small camera inside the rectum to check the rectum and colon for early signs of colorectal cancer, ulcers and abnormal growths.

They are also performing the EGD, the esophagogastroduodenoscopy, inserting a small camera in the throat to examine the esophagus, stomach and upper duodenum.

On Nov. 11, Dr. Jack Abrams, with the Abrams Eye Institute, performed the first corneal transplant surgery at Desert View Hospital, on a 65-year-old, legally blind woman. The operation is for people whose vision can’t be corrected with glasses or contact lenses.

“Those are three new services just in the last six months we’re doing that really make a huge difference. That’s our Christmas present to Pahrump and we’re going to get more services,” Oscarson said.

He noted, “We added digital mammography which is a very expensive piece of equipment.”

Desert View Hospital opened in April 2006 with 25 beds. It is owned by Rural Health Management Corporation, based in Nephi, Utah.

Desert View Hospital, in conjunction with Health Care Partners and United Health Care are bringing more and more specialists to Pahrump, Oscarson said..

“The mandate from Health Care Partners they want to support the hospital and they want their specialists to support the hospital and do procedures here that can be done,” he said.