$49 Heart Scan, World Class Cardiac Team at Silver Cross Save Frankfort Man’s Life

Tim Borchert, a member of the Silver Cross Foundation Board of Directors, and his wife, Connie, attended a Silver Cross Community Trustees luncheon at the hospital last year when they heard about the Silver Cross Heart Scan offered for only $49. 

At Connie’s urging, Borchert, of Frankfort, scheduled a heart scan at Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox in October. It’s a very quick test that takes maybe less than 10 minutes. In Borchert’s case, those few minutes turned out to be critical. 

“The next day, I got a call from my doctor. He said, ‘We’re going to refer you to Dr. Joseph Stella.” 

Dr. Stella, a renowned interventional cardiologist on Silver Cross Hospital’s medical staff, explained the severity of the situation to Borchert.  

“The heart scan measures how much calcium build-up is in your arteries,” Borchert said. “A score of 0 to 100 is minimal; 100 to 400 is starting to get concerning. Over 400 means you need to take immediate action. Mine was 2,517. And I had no symptoms whatsoever.” 

Dr. Stella set up an angiogram, and while Borchert hoped he would only need a few stents, it was more dire than that. 

“One artery was 100 percent blocked, and the other two were in the 90s,” he said. “I was a ticking time bomb.” 

Preparing for Open Heart Surgery

Dr. Stella said it’s natural for people to be scared after hearing they need open heart surgery. 

“But I tell them this is the best day of your life, because we have found this disease before it finds you. For 20 to 25 percent of the people, the first thing they feel with a cardiac event is the last thing they feel. They never make it to the hospital.” 

Open heart surgery was scheduled for Nov. 6, 2025, and Borchert said he was ready. 

“Coming into it, while there’s always a little anxiety, I wasn’t afraid. A friend who had open heart surgery at Silver Cross the year before told me what to expect. And I knew I was in good hands,” he said. 

And there were a lot of hands in that operating room for the surgery, which usually takes three to four hours. 

“What we do at Silver Cross is really special,” said Dr. Nina Delavari, DO, Cardiothoracic Surgeon on Silver Cross Hospital’s medical staff. “There are so many parts that go into this heart program. It’s not just the heart surgeons operating on a patient, but the nurses, the APNs, everybody who’s involved with the patient pre-operatively. Every person who comes into our area and puts their hands on the patient, cares for the patient; gives them a little bit of themselves.” 

Dr. Stella said that teamwork stands out. 

“One of the things that makes the cardiac program at Silver Cross unique is a very close, trusting and long-established relationship we have with our cardiovascular surgeons. That's essential. It allows us to push the edge. It allows us to develop more and bring more research to Silver Cross,” Dr. Stella said. “Without that synergy, no program can succeed nearly to the extent that we’ve been able to do. That’s what makes Silver Cross really special.” 

Dr. Delavari added that Silver Cross offers the full breadth of adult cardiac surgery. 

“We are able to do the same operations with better results than they do at any other hospital in this country.  We perform 400 open heart surgeries each year. Other community hospitals do maybe 100 to 150,” she added. 

After Open Heart Surgery

Though Borchert got four bypasses, three to the major arteries of his heart, the staff had him upright the next morning. 

“The morning you wake up from surgery, you’re in a chair,” said Dr. Delavari. “That’s where we like you to have your breakfast.” 

Dr. Delavari added they like open heart patients to be as active as they can be, even when they go home. But no heavy lifting for about two months to allow the breastbone to heal. 

After a couple months of healing, then it’s on to a cardiac rehab program, said Dr. Delavari, which is a structured program with a cardiac rehab therapist, “who gets you back to where you were before.” 

Borchert said he already feels as good as he did before surgery, which is both great and scary, considering that time bomb in his chest. And don’t ignore family history. 

“My grandparents died from heart attacks. My father had three heart attacks and had bypass surgery. So did my aunt,” he said. “I thought I had escaped all of that by taking those little baby aspirins for 25 or 30 years. I thought I was doing the right thing, so this was a big surprise.” 

“They give us a leg up on their heart disease. It allows us to intervene in many patients prior to them having a significant adverse event,” Dr. Stella added. “The cost of a calcium score is well worth it. For $49, it’s a no-brainer.” 

Borchert agrees. 

“You can’t buy a lunch for $49. But if you spend that money on a heart scan, you can have lunch the following day, the following week, the following year. I mean, it saves your life.” 

“Silver Cross is a hidden jewel,” Dr. Stella said. “We have an excellent cardiac program, an excellent cardiovascular surgical program, the right care at the right place at the right time. That's what Tim was able to receive.” 

To schedule a $49  Silver Cross Heart Scan, visit silvercross.org/heart-scan