Frank Davis had just parked at Peddler’s Village in Lahaska and was headed to the stores. It was the Friday after Thanksgiving and the 63-year-old retired trucker was shopping with his wife and two daughters. They had made this same trip for several years, traveling an hour and a half from their home in Staten Island, NY.

Suddenly overcome by chest pain, Mr. Davis dropped on a nearby bench. He had felt a similar pain on Thanksgiving, but had ignored it. This time, the pain didn’t stop.

“It felt like I had gotten kicked by a horse,” Mr. Davis says. “I had shortness of breath, pressure, everything they say about a heart attack.”

A short ambulance ride later, Mr. Davis was being cared for in the Doylestown Hospital Emergency Department (ED). Tests confirmed a heart attack and because of the extent of his heart disease he needed surgery to clear blocked arteries. When it came time to plan cardiac rehabilitation, his doctor (cardiologist Steven Guidera, MD) figured he would want to consider options back home.

But Mr. Davis had already found heart care specialists he trusted. He chose to drive to Doylestown from Staten Island twice a week for rehab.

“When something like this happens, you’re afraid,” Mr. Davis says. “You’re afraid of what might happen or not happen. I didn’t want to leave Doylestown Hospital. I developed so much trust and faith in this place.”

Karen Snyder, RN, a cardiac rehabilitation specialist at the Heart Institute of Doylestown Hospital, says Mr. Davis progressed very well.

“He works hard here and does what he’s supposed to at home,” Ms. Snyder says. “He wants to get better. We enjoy him. We kid a lot with our patients, but at the same time, we are very serious about what we do.”

Cardiac patients place a lot of trust in the rehab staff, Ms. Snyder adds.

“Heart attack patients have lost control of a part of their lives,” she says. “At cardiac rehab, they can become self-reliant and grab hold of their lives again.”

Mr. Davis praises the ED staff, hospital volunteers and the priest who visited him daily. He jokes about being on a first-name basis with the rehab staff.

“Everyone was great,” he says. “The Doylestown area is unbelievable. We’ve visited a lot of local businesses; there’s even a pet store where they know us by name. I’m seeing another doctor here now, too.”

First a Doylestown Hospital patient by chance, Frank Davis has clearly become a patient by choice.