— Louis Sciullo may owe his life to his new job as executive director for Conemaugh Health System’s cardiovascular services.

If it were not for the heightened awareness brought through his administrative duties, Sciullo said he may not have reacted so quickly to what turned out to be warning signs of a potentially lethal heart problem.

He says he is now Conemaugh Health System’s version of Hair Club for Men founder Sy Sperling:

“I’m not only the executive director, I’m also a customer of the service line,” Sciullo said at his Memorial Medical Center office overlooking Franklin Street.

“I have actually lived what a patient has experienced.”

Sciullo accepted the executive director job in August 2010, bringing 32 years of experience in health-care finance and administration. Previous positions included Conemaugh director of special projects and Latrobe Hospital chief operating officer.

His new duties included physician recruitment and working with doctors to plan for future needs in the cardiac care line, along with community outreach.

Although Sciullo saw the change as an opportunity to accept new challenges and be part of the health system’s most important service, he now believes there was more to it.

“When you change jobs, there might be some kind of divine reason behind why we do it,” Sciullo said. “In August 2010, who would have thought in May 2011, I’d be going through a cardiac experience myself.”

Sciullo had just finished cutting the grass at his home and was putting the mower away.

“I had a sharp pain across my chest and down my arm for about 15 or 20 seconds,” Sciullo said. “I thought I had pulled a muscle.”

The rest of that May evening, Sciullo continued to feel the effects of the “pulled muscle.”

“I didn’t feel terrible, but I knew something was not right,” Sciullo recalled. “I should have gone directly to the emergency room.”

‘Warning signs’

Instead, Sciullo waited until morning at work in Memorial, when he talked to Dr. Samir Hadeed, cardiologist and medical director of cardiovascular services.

“When Lou told me his symptoms I suggested we do a work-up and we found a 99 percent blockage,” Hadeed said.

The blockage was in his left anterior descending coronary artery, often called the widow-maker because the first symptom of a complete blockage is usually death, Sciullo said.

Hadeed scheduled Sciullo for a heart catheterization and stent placement on a Thursday, and he was back to work by Monday.

But the experience changed him in several ways. For one, it gave him some insight into how people can ignore the warning signs for heart disease, which then develops into full-blown heart attacks.

“Lesson learned: You pay attention to the warning signs,” Sciullo said. “It changes your perspective on how you look at things. Had I not been in charge of a cardiovascular program, I might not have recognized the signs.

“I view myself almost as a poster child to pay attention to the signs.”

He did not consider the pain severe, and there was no sweating or nausea often cited as symptoms. So he urges people to take even minor symptoms seriously.

‘Better appreciation’

The experience also gave Sciullo a look at Conemaugh’s heart program from the other side of the monitors. He liked what he saw.

“I don’t think I would have gotten any better care anywhere else, and it’s not because of job,” Sciullo said. “I think the expectations are the same across the board. They were very comforting and supportive.”

The nurses, physicians and other care providers not only helped him recover from the procedure, but also equipped him for continued healing, he said.

“It gave me a better appreciation of the clinical people who work in this organization,” Sciullo said. “My background has been in world of numbers and statistics. Seeing it through the patient’s eyes showed me clinical jobs are challenging. You have to be a good listener.

“I have a strong degree of pride in working with them.”

The doctors’ advice is helping, he added.

“I changed what I needed to change,” he said. “I lost 30 pounds and I’ve gotten into better eating and exercise routine.”

He also gives credit to Memorial’s advanced diagnostic technology for identifying the issue.

“Years ago, that’s how people like me found out they had a heart problem – they had a heart attack,” he said.

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