Dr. David Caparrelli had two good reasons for moving to Flagstaff. First, he and his wife, Cara, believe it is a great place to raise kids and second, he got the opportunity to join the cardiovascular care facility at the Flagstaff Medical Center and The Heart & Vascular Center of Northern Arizona.
“I think one of the things that really attracted me to Flagstaff was the world-class physicians and the top-notch nursing staff at the facility. It is really top notch for being a small town,” he said.
Plus, not only does he have the opportunity to contribute to the enhancement of the existing program, he gets to keep doing what he does best.
“I have an opportunity to make a real difference in peoples’ lives,” he said. “I am able to treat the disease process and improve people’s quality of life and length of life; I find that very rewarding.”
Caparrelli, M.D., F.A.C.S, was selected after a nationwide search. And indeed, his pedigree is impressive. He was a science major in college with an interest in chemistry, but he felt a need to work with people. “I wanted to spend more time helping people and less time in the lab,” he said. “I decided medicine was for me and found the heart, lungs and vascular systems were the most interesting to work with.”
Caparrelli earned his undergraduate degree from Princeton and his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, after which he remained another year doing post-doctoral research as a fellow in thoracic oncology. He completed his residencies in general, vascular and cardiothoracic surgeries at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Md. While there, he was the chief resident of cardiac and thoracic surgery divisions.
He met Cara in 1998, while she was a nurse at Johns Hopkins and he was an intern.
“I waited to ask her out on the last day of that rotation because if she said no, I wouldn’t have to see her for a couple of months,” he said.
She told him later that after the first date, she called her mom told her that he was the one.
The couple married in 2000 and their children were born in 2002, 2004 and 2006. He and his family lived in Phoenix for five years while Caparrelli worked at the Arizona Heart Institute and the Arizona Heart Hospital.
Phoenix was a little hot in the summer for Cara. It is more comfortable in Flagstaff.
The family moved up in August before the start of school. He moved up in October when he completed his contract.
“My wife is a nurse who works at Northland Hospice and the kids have acclimated very well,” he said.
Caparrelli, 43, grew up in a small town in the Philadelphia area, so he found both Flagstaff, as well joining the team at the medical center, appealing.
“We do a lot of outreach to surrounding communities,” he said.
While Flagstaff proper is a small community, it treats a million patients a year from surrounding areas and the Native American community. Plus, the medical facility is the only Level One Trauma Center in the area, so serious cases anywhere in Northern Arizona can be taken for treatment there.
He says he and others are building a new state-of-the-art operating room where heart surgery can be done in a minimally invasive way. “Patients don’t have to look south. They should be coming here for world-class treatment,” he said, adding that the treatment is “second to none” in the state.
“Flagstaff Medical Center is a very good place to be, rather than a large city,” he said. “The care is just as good or better than anywhere else.”
Caparrelli hopes the facility can be known as a major referral center for all of the Southwest.
In August, the medical center will celebrate the 10th anniversary of its open heart surgery program. FMC was the first hospital outside the Phoenix and Tucson metropolitan areas to offer open heart surgery when it launched its program in August 2004.
Services offered at the medical center include coronary artery bypass grafting, valve repair and replacement, Maze procedure for arterial fibrillation, complex lung resections, removal of intravascular tumors and the repair of penetrating chest trauma.
“Every patient is different. Every patient has different family dynamics, a wife, son or daughter. Over time, in a couple of cases, I have operated on numerous family members, husbands and wives, husbands and sons. The disease runs in the family,” he said.
As the Caparrelli family settles in to Flagstaff, they spend a lot of time with their children who are all involved in soccer. “I play a little golf when I have time off, but they keep me pretty busy here,” he said.
The Caparrellis like to stay involved with the community. “We went to our First Friday Art Walk last week,” he said. “We try to embrace all that is Flagstaff.” FBN
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