Dr. Ali Al-Mudamgha is the director of electrophysiology at St. Joseph’s Health. Last month he had a groundbreaking achievement when he successfully implanted an external defibrillator into two patients.

"It’s always exciting when you’re sort of at the front of the line if you're willing to do a procedure. In our field stuff changes all the time, so we always want to get our hands on the new technology. It’s an honor but it worked out great, to be honest with you," Dr. Al-Mudamgha said.

Sarah Kennedy was his first patient for this new innovation and one of the first in the northeast.

"My heart problem started about 15 years ago when I had my daughter. She’s my third child and after I had her, I had problems bouncing back from the pregnancy. I just couldn’t get healthy again," said Kennedy.

Kennedy suffers from dilated cardiomyopathy, a disorder that causes the heart to lose its ability to pump blood well.

"She has a weak heart muscle, so she’s at risk for cardiac arrest. When patients get to a critical point, we then offer them a defibrillator. A typical defibrillator has a wire that goes into the bloodstream, under the collar bone, into the heart," Dr. Al-Mudamgha said.

However, Dr. Al-Mudamgha says the wire can cause problems.

"The wire that’s in the blood stream can break or get infected. Then when you have to deal with that it’s a big deal. This system gives you the exact same capability as a traditional system but the wire doesn’t have to be in the blood stream," Dr. Al-Mudamgha said.

This new minimally invasive approach places the wire under the breastbone instead of through the bloodstream. The defibrillator has a pacemaker built into it so it can keep the heart from slowing down and deliver shock to save a patient from a life threatening heart rhythm disorder.

"It’s set up to alert us that the device went off. So we will get an alert to our office that says patient so and so, their defibrillator fired at such and such day and it will actually show us what the device saw and why it fired," Dr. Al-Mudamgha said.

Since having the procedure back in early January, Kennedy says she feels more secure.

"The device is really giving me a new lease on life. And it really is giving me peace of mind in order to continue my day-to-day functions and to know that I have a back up in case I need it," Kennedy said.