Learning Lab on the World’s Smallest Heart Pump

It’s the smallest device of its kind in the world, but it has the biggest job you can imagine: saving a human heart.
Just ask Assistant Fire Chief for Harrison County Steve Moore. Moore went into cardiac arrest after fighting a house fire and his heart wouldn’t have made it if it wasn’t for a very tiny heart pumped called the impella device. Memorial Hospital cardiologists worked fast to insert the device into Moore’s heart.
Gulfport’s Memorial Hospital has used the device 60 times since December 2012. This afternoon was Moore’s first time seeing how the device that gave him a second chance at life operates. “I’m just thrilled to death to be standing here, able to talk, much less able to work and do the things I like to do and spend time with my family and what have you. It’s just amazing,” said Moore.
While learning about the heart pump and how it works, hospital staff, cardiologists, and Moore’s family celebrated a heart recovery reunion outside Memorial’s mobile learning lab.