An irregular heartbeat leads to a grateful heart

When his Apple Watch alerted him to an irregular heartbeat, Andrew Cassis anticipated a quick, in-and-out experience at his local emergency department. Andrew’s watch detected an unusually slow heart rhythm while he was at dinner during a business trip, leading to an interaction that ultimately saved his life. 

“After my watch went off, I called my physician, but felt good enough to drive the additional three hours back home,” he said. “The experience at the Baptist Health Floyd emergency department was seamless; it could not have gone smoother, but what I wasn’t prepared for was to hear that I would need heart surgery.”

As a partner at Mercer — the world’s largest healthcare benefits consulting firm where Andrew oversees the Tennessee and Kentucky region — the ability to quickly pivot and problem solve comes naturally. While unexpected news caught Andrew off guard, it didn’t prevent him from channeling his business mindset and immediately thinking through next steps.

“I am a business executive and leader in the community, but I am also a husband and a father. I wanted to be sure that surgery, especially a surgery on my heart, was a necessary step,” he said. “I sought a second, and then third opinion, from other reputable healthcare facilities and had to face that this was something I would have to do.”

Andrew made the decision to move forward with his procedure at a different facility, but something nudged him to speak with the surgeon who initially gave him his diagnosis. After a second meeting with Hrak Chemchirian, MD, he made the decision to stay local and trust Baptist Health Floyd with his future.

“I was skeptical of a cardiac unit at a smaller hospital being able to perform a heart surgery of this caliber as well as those in metropolitan areas,” he said. “After speaking with Dr. Chemchirian, his calm demeanor and confidence provided me with a sense of peace, and I knew that this was the person I wanted to hold my heart in his hands.”

Andrew’s uncertainty was replaced with confidence that this was the best decision for him and his family. “I never would have thought a smaller facility was capable of having the quality of care that I received. The empathy and caring of your people are what it is all about. It was my heart. It was a big deal, and now I would trust this team with the health of any one of my family members or friends.”

For Andrew, his experience wasn’t summed up in the success of his surgery, but rather centered on the people who cared for him throughout his entire hospital stay.

“I can’t say enough about my nurses, and I will never be able to express my full gratitude over the impact they had on me during one of the most difficult experiences of my life,” he said. “The empathy, attitudes, positivity, knowledge and hard work exhibited by each nurse I came across is something that I will never forget. There aren’t enough adjectives to do them justice, but I know that they are a light to every patient they serve and what sets Baptist Health apart from anywhere else.”

The lifesaving potential of quality care in your own community combined with the technology found in today’s Apple Watch is something that Andrew will continue to advocate for. “For some it may be just a watch, but for me, it is why I am still here today. It saved my life, and it can save yours. The watch brought me to the hospital, and Baptist Health doctors made sure I walked out of it able to fully live the rest of my life.”