It is said that the heart is the body’s fuel pump. And like with a car, if the heart cannot pump blood efficiently, the body doesn’t work well.
If anyone can relate, it’s Horace Ragbir, who has owned an auto repair shop in Englewood for 35 years. “I’ve been diagnosing problems in cars for a very long time,” he says. But when his heart needed a tune-up, he came to Englewood Health.
“I’ve been going to Englewood Hospital for 35 years. In that time, I’ve seen it evolve into one of the leading hospitals in the state of New Jersey,” Horace says.
It all started with chest pain that would radiate through his back and shoulders, go away and then come back. After a visit to the Emergency Department, cardiologist Dr. Aron Schwarcz put in a stent.
But the pain persisted, and an echo performed in August of 2022 revealed the presence of two additional blockages.
Horace had triple bypass surgery in October 2023 with the cardiothoracic team at Englewood Health. After several days in the hospital and a few more days to recover, Horace says he felt good. “Every day was a little better than the day before. I was moving forward not backwards, so I knew that was good.”
Horace is particularly thankful to the team in the intensive care unit (ICU), who looked after him for six days after his surgery. In fact, he was so appreciative that one day during his stay, he bought the entire ICU staff lunch.
Now, several months later, Horace is feeling good and is back at work in his auto repair shop. He is still doing cardiac rehabilitation at Englewood Health, learning ways to take care of his heart, just the way he would the engine of a car.
“Cardiac rehab is a very monitored atmosphere. You have the wireless transmitter around you that does your EKG, and the staff can look at your blood pressure and everything that’s going on. I feel comfortable testing my limits and learning what I am capable of in such a controlled environment, where the team can intervene if there are any issues.”