With Gratitude:  Patient Stories

Retired auto repair shop owner Bruce Balemian could fix any car problem he encountered. But when a serious health issue threatened his mobility and quality of life, Bruce needed someone else in the driver’s seat to get back on the road to wellness.

Diana Wantoch is a retired nurse and current healthcare consultant with expertise in quality, risk management, and patient safety. 

So, she knows a thing or two about what it takes to deliver compassionate, coordinated, and exceptional care—which, she says, is exactly what she received at The Miriam.

In 2023, Carl Neal found himself at The Miriam Hospital not once, but twice; he underwent separate catheterizations on each leg for peripheral artery disease, which were performed by Omar N. Hyder, MD, Director of Vascular Imagining at the Brown University Health Cardiovascular Institute.

Michelle, a very active mom, wife, and first grade teacher, was the last person anyone would suspect to have a cardiac condition – even her PCP. But the symptoms she was experiencing for a few weeks prior to that fateful date in September 2022, were symptoms of a heart condition.

When a genetic risk of sudden cardiac death became the center of Jill Marinelli’s world, she was grateful to have The Miriam Hospital and Brown University Health Cardiovascular Institute to turn to, so close to home.