Hospital in Evanston, IL, leads unusual tour

"About 150 visitors packed their way into St. Francis Hospital's Wolf Auditorium Friday, some of them not entirely sure they wanted to be there. The large crowd was huddled to witness a first for the hospital: a public demonstration of a cardiac bypass operation. For the record, the cardiac bypass demonstration was performed on a pig heart, obtained from an area butcher. In fact, the rest of the animal's body wasn't even there. Pig hearts are frequently used for medical education purposes because they are closely resemble the human heart. Sure, the presentation provided a bit of "wow" factor to St. Francis' annual Heart Fest, which always includes a variety of health screenings and lectures. But the opportunity to witness such a procedure can offer a real education to people -- or their family members -- who may soon be staring down one of these surgeries themselves." - Evanson Review