Riverside Health System has applied to the Virginia Department of Health to provide mobile cardiac catheterization services in the Gloucester, Williamsburg, Tappahannock and Eastern Shore areas.

A public hearing on the application was held in Newport News on Nov. 16, a fact-finding conference will be held on the application on Dec. 6 in Richmond, and the health commissioner is expected to decide whether a certificate of need will be issued in March.

The certificate of public need program was designed, according to Riverside director of public relations Peter Glagola, to contain health care costs by ensuring that expensive medical investments will be used and will not duplicate services already available in an area.

Being able to offer the mobile service is important, Glagola said, because cardiovascular disease is one of the top five causes of death in the United States. Someone in this country will have a coronary event about every 25 seconds, the American Heart Association said, and someone will die of it about every minute.

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