Henry E. Childers IV, MD, joins Beebe Medical Center's cardiac surgery team

Beebe Medical Center announces that cardiothoracic surgeon Henry E. Childers IV has joined the organization’s cardiac surgery team as medical director of Cardiothoracic Surgery.

Childers brings an expertise in minimally invasive cardiac surgery and already has introduced this type of cardiac surgery to Beebe Medical Center. In minimally invasive cardiac surgery, the surgeon is able to access the heart through a small incision between the ribs that is the size of a triple-A battery. This eliminates the need for either the large incision through the breast bone, or any cutting of bone.

Childers also is focused on the team approach in the treatment of coronary artery disease. This means that the cardiothoracic surgeons work together with cardiologists, the surgical staff and other medical professionals to make sure that each patient receives the most appropriate care.

Childers joins cardiothoracic surgeon M. L. Ray Kuretu, MD, who has been a member of the Beebe cardiac surgery team since July 2010. The team includes two cardiac anesthesiologists, two perfusionists (medical technicians who monitor the heart-lung bypass machine), three physician’s assistants specially trained in cardiothoracic surgery, and numerous surgical specialists including surgical and critical care nurses.

The Cardiac Surgery program at Beebe Medical Center, now in its sixth year, in 2010 received the highest-quality rating from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. The 2010 rating was the second in a row for Beebe Medical Center and the third in total since the cardiac surgery program began in 2007.

Childers comes to Beebe Medical Center from Southern Ohio Medical Center, where he was an attending surgeon and the senior medical director of Cardiothoracic Surgery, chairman of the Department of Cardiac Services, and medical director of the Heart Care Unit. He earned his medical degree at Tufts University School of Medicine and completed a residency and fellowship in cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Pennsylvania. He is board certified in thoracic surgery.

Kuretu came from the Philadelphia area, where he served as both an attending surgeon and an assistant professor at Hahnemann University Hospital. He was formerly medical director of cardiothoracic surgery at Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital in Darby, Pa. He earned his medical degree from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn., and completed fellowship training in thoracic and cardiovascular surgery at Shadyside Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pa., at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center in New Jersey, and through a special fellowship of cardiothoracic surgery at Hahnemann University Hospital. He is board certified in thoracic surgery. Kuretu has trained many of today’s cardiac surgeons and has been a strong leader and active member of Beebe Medical Center’s cardiac surgery program since his arrival.

“This is a very exciting time for Beebe’s cardiac surgery program and our community, as we add new faces and new procedures, and move our program forward to new heights,” says Lynn Amey, executive director of Cardiac and Vascular Services at Beebe.

Beebe Medical Center is a not-for-profit community medical center with a charitable mission to encourage healthy living, prevent illness and restore optimal health with the people residing, working, or visiting in the communities it serves. For more information, go to www.beebemed.org.