Quality Health Care Close to Home [Harry Mansheim]

High-quality imaging is a cornerstone of accurate diagnosis and effective treatment. In this video, a patient shares his journey at Brookings Health System, illustrating how thorough imaging and attentive care led to the discovery and treatment of a heart rhythm issue, all close to home.

  • Comprehensive imaging: Stress tests, CAT scans, ultrasounds, and heart monitoring help detect subtle or complex heart conditions.
  • Accurate diagnosis: Multiple tests identified an additional electrical pathway causing irregular heart rhythm.
  • Minimally invasive treatment: Ablation effectively resolved the heart rhythm issue, improving oxygen delivery and physical performance.
  • Patient-centered care: Staff provided personal, attentive care that made the patient feel comfortable and supported.
  • Local access benefits: Receiving advanced diagnostic and treatment services locally reduces travel time while maintaining high-quality care.

Frequently Asked Questions

Imaging in health care uses technologies like ultrasounds, CAT scans, stress tests, and heart monitoring to visualize internal structures and functions. It helps detect abnormalities, guide treatment decisions, and monitor patient progress.

Multiple tests are ordered when initial results are inconclusive or when complex conditions require a detailed evaluation. Combining different modalities ensures accurate diagnosis and treatment planning.

Heart ablation is a minimally invasive procedure that eliminates abnormal electrical pathways in the heart, restoring a normal rhythm and improving heart function. It is performed using catheters inserted through veins in the leg or neck.

Imaging tests are generally safe and noninvasive, while ablation carries minimal risks such as bleeding, infection, or arrhythmia recurrence. Physicians weigh risks against potential benefits for each patient.

Local access allows patients to receive timely, high-quality diagnostics and treatment without long travel, ensuring early detection, continuity of care, and peace of mind.

Video Transcript

I'm Harry Mansheim, and my wife and I and our seven kids have been part of Brookings for over 50 years. And I sold my business September 1st, and from there, I'm acclimating myself to the other things of life that I like to do.

What Brought You to Brookings Health System?
 
I'm a distance runner, and in the last year, I had been noticeably having oxygen debt. I was getting pains in my shoulder blades or below my neck and my back, and I knew that wasn't proper. And then my recovery from my workouts was slow. I just was realizing that something was not right.

What Testing and Imaging Procedures Did You Have at Brookings Health?

Well, they sent me here, the Brookings Avera Clinic sent me here for a stress test, first time, and the stress test didn't reveal any problem. And so when I go back to visit with Dr. Ellsworth, well he said, "Well, we gotta keep looking because there is something not normal, something not normal." So I was referred back here again for a chest CAT scan and that appeared to be okay. And so we came again, and that time, we had an ultrasound of my heart and that didn't reveal anything, things looked normal on that, apparently. And still we say, "Something... Well, there's a problem." And so we came back again and I had a heart monitor for a while, realizing that there was still a problem. From there, I was referred to a specialist away from Brookings.

What Was Your Diagnosis and What Procedure Did You Have?
 
I had a very high spike in my heart rate, and from there, one thing led to the next to a point of having an ablation on my heart. Well, the procedure that was done by Dr. Mahama was a matter of going up my leg and in my neck and into my heart to eliminate an additional electrical pathway that was there that was causing irregular heart rhythm. I asked the doctor, I says, "Well, how long did I have this additional electrical pathway?" And he says, "You've had it all your life," which was, sort of, astounding because well, the fact I had it is understandable, but how I was able to function as a distance runner and as a endurance person with that was bewildering.

But nonetheless, they did the procedure, and after that, I've had no oxygen debt. None. The only thing's that happened is that my physical conditioning has regressed because of time and my age, of course. But I was able to go out and have a long run without feeling just fatigued. So there was progress from that procedure, which could not have come about had we not had the preliminary tests here at the Brookings Health System to realize it was something else that needed to be done. So a pulmonary function was prescribed by Dr. Ellsworth.

What Did You Appreciate Most About Brookings Health System?

The personal attention, genuine attention with caring. I could feel that the person was caring about me and I felt very comfortable with that.

What Are the Advantages of a Local Hospital?
 
We, the people of Brookings, own this institution, and to be able to have comfort in using it turns around to be a value, not only to the recipient, but to the public within Brookings because we all own the Brookings Hospital, the Brookings Health System. And not to have to go outside our community to get good service with caring people and up-to-date equipment.

Would You Recommend Brookings Health System?
 
Absolutely. If you'd come here, feel very confident that you're gonna get the best of caring, personal care with excellent equipment.

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