November 19th, 2024 by WCBC Radio

UPMC Western Maryland celebrates today in recognition of a big milestone.  The hospital’s Heart and Vascular institute has completed 5,000 open-heart surgeries.  The department opened in November of 2002. Area native and Cardiothoracic Surgeon Dr. Mark Nelson recalls how he came back to Cumberland for the job…

“Well, I was in private practice out in the Midwest in Iowa and there were rumblings of the merger of the two hospitals – Sacred Heart and Memorial and also providing cardiac surgical services. So they reached out to me since they knew I was from the area and they knew I was a cardiac surgeon so it kind of evolved from there.”