MILWAUKEE — Starting Dec. 14, 2024, Ascension St. Joseph Hospital will no longer have a cardiac catheterization laboratory, commonly referred to as a cath lab.
Cardiac catheters help diagnose and treat heart attacks, strokes and cardiac arrest.
Ascension Wisconsin announced the decision in a press release in November.
Some Milwaukee leaders said they are worried, as there is not another cath lab near Ascension St. Joseph Hospital. The cath lab is on Milwaukee’s Northwest Side, predominantly serving Black neighborhoods.
First responders and city leaders estimated it would take an additional 15 to 30 minutes of driving time for a patient to get to the closest hospitals with cath labs — Froedtert Hospital and Ascension Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital — compared to Ascension St. Joseph Hospital.
Milwaukee Assistant Fire Chief David Hensley said extra travel time to a cath lab can potentially make the difference between life and death.
“As we know, in the medical field, time is tissue when it comes to getting these services,” he said. “The cath lab is there to remove the blockages that are going to open up the blood flow and start getting the oxygenation back to the heart muscle.”
Public officials shared their concerns with Ascension Wisconsin’s leadership team at a Milwaukee Public Safety and Health Committee meeting Thursday.
“It feels like you are the team that comes in and shuts stuff down,” Alderwoman Milele Coggs said.
“Maintaining these services at these hospitals is not possible?” Alderman Mark Chambers asked. “Why is that?”
Ascension Wisconsin CEO, Daniel Jackson said hospitals are facing staffing shortages and financial concerns.
“This is complex work,” he said. “I’m not asking you to say, ‘Oh, I understand your why.’ I want to continue to partner with you. I have no problem being transparent about what it takes to make this happen.”
Chambers shared that his grandmother, who passed away, survived two heart attacks during her lifetime due to quick responses at St. Joseph Hospital.
“Had that cath lab not been at St. Joseph’s, and she had to go somewhere further away, who knows if she would have made it,” he said.
At Thursday’s meeting, data was shared to encapsulate how this will impact the North Side’s neighborhoods.
According to that data, approximately 115,000 residents will have to travel further for cath lab services in a life-or-death situation.
Ascension Wisconsin representatives said the closure was not an easy decision to make. They pointed to their own statistics that show roughly 2% of heart attack and cardiac arrest patients at St. Joseph needed cath lab services.
“It’s unfortunate,” said Ali Heron, who lives on the North Side of Milwaukee. “If someone is in a serious situation where they have to go somewhere else, hopefully they can make it to where they need to go to. Or maybe they can try to go back to the powers that be and say, ‘Hey look, no, we need this service here.’”
Ascension Wisconsin is also closing the cath lab at St. Francis Hospital on Milwaukee’s South Side. There is another cath lab nearby that can serve patients in that area.