Physicians help expand KU Heart Program

Lynn Kindred, M.D., and William Reed, M.D., eagerly await completion of the new heart center at KU.

Cardiologists and surgeons who will work in a heart care facility now under construction at the University of Kansas Hospital have pledged $1.5 million for their new home at Cambridge and 39th streets in Kansas City, Kan.

William A. Reed, M.D., with his wife, Mary, pledged $1 million to the Kansas University Endowment Association for the 238,000-square-foot facility, which is expected to be completed in 2006. It was previously announced at the facility groundbreaking in October that members of three groups also have committed $500,000 for the facility. The members are the cardiologists of Mid-America Cardiology Associates Inc., the cardiothoracic surgeons of MidAmerica Thoracic & Cardiovascular Surgeons Inc., and the cardiologists and vascular surgeons of Kansas University Physicians Inc.

"My wife and I want our gift to be a lead gift for a fund drive for the heart center," said William Reed, chairman of the department of cardiovascular diseases at the hospital. "It was important to us that there be major support from the physicians involved. We are hoping that by raising some funds early we can lay a foundation for building, equipping and furnishing this facility."

Funded through a combination of private gifts, bonds and operating revenue, the $72 million facility will help the hospital serve increasing numbers of heart patients, Reed said. The heart center will expand the emergency department at the hospital and will increase the space available for heart-related laboratories, surgeries, outpatient procedures and intensive care.

"The KU hospital has been full in the last two years particularly," Reed said. "That can limit the growth of the heart program. When the new facility is built, it will give us the room to bring state-of-the-art care and personally oriented care to the cardiac patient."

Randall Genton, M.D., president of Mid-America Cardiology, said the construction of the facility is generating "tremendous excitement" among the cardiologists, surgeons, nurses and other health care professionals of the KU heart team.

"We want to have the number one heart care program in the region," Genton said. "This gift from our physicians represents their commitment to that vision, and we hope it inspires physicians, friends and grateful patients to give as well."

The new facility is the latest step in an initiative to expand the heart care services available at the hospital. In 2001 the hospital acquired the groups MidAmerica Thoracic & Cardiovascular Surgeons, which was founded by Reed, and Mid-America Cardiology, which was co-founded by Lynn Kindred, M.D., and Hubert Bell, M.D. The increase in heart care professionals has helped KU handle a 44 percent increase in heart surgeries since 2003.

More than 40 years ago, Reed interned and completed two residencies at KU. He went on to an accomplished career at St. Luke's Hospital in Kansas City, Mo., but he said that returning to KU was important to him and to Kindred. Like Reed, Kindred, c'59, m '63, interned and completed his residency at KU.

"We looked upon this as an opportunity to face a new challenge and start something that would benefit the school," Reed said. "Many of us now in KU's heart program had ties here through our training, and this gave us the chance to express gratitude for our start here."

A pioneer in open heart surgery in the area, Reed was a professor of surgery at KU in 1971 when he joined the staff of St. Luke's. He was the medical director of the cardiovascular surgery program at St. Luke's from 1971 until 2000, when he returned to KU. He has retired from performing surgeries but is active in his role as cardiovascular diseases department chairman.

Mary Reed earned a degree in nursing from Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., in 1954. She worked in intensive care and was an obstetrics instructor at KU for four years during William Reed's medical training. The couple has three children, Jeff, William and Bryan, f '89.

The University of Kansas Hospital and KU Endowment are partners in philanthropy. KU Endowment serves as the independent, non-profit fund-raising and fund-management organization for KU and its affiliates. Founded in 1891, it is the oldest organization of its kind at a state-assisted university.