Within days of a transcatheter aortic valve replacement procedure at Independence Health Westmoreland Hospital, Bob Weaver was out mowing his lawn.

The improvement in his quality of life has been amazing, Weaver said. The Hempfield man was experiencing shortness of breath prior to the procedure on May 7.

“I don’t have any symptoms anymore, and it was immediate,” he said six days later.

Weaver, 79, is one of the hundreds of patients who have been helped by the procedures at Independence Health System’s Westmoreland and Butler Memorial hospitals. Both recently celebrated milestones in the number of procedures performed, with 1,000 at Butler and 600 in Westmoreland, officials said.

A transcatheter aortic valve replacement, also known as TAVR, is a minimally invasive procedure that inserts a new valve into the heart, according to the American Heart Association.

The new valve is guided into place with help from a catheter that is inserted through a small incision in the leg or chest. In the past, open-heart surgery was the main option for valve replacement, according to Independence Health.

But now it’s an outpatient procedure that usually takes an hour or two, a health system spokeswoman said.

Afterward, the patient is admitted to the hospital and can be discharged the next day.

TAVR is a treatment for someone who has aortic valve stenosis. That’s when the heart’s aortic valve thickens and becomes stiff, making blood flow more difficult, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Common symptoms include chest pain, shortness of breath, dizziness, trouble walking short distances or a rapid or fluttering heartbeat, according to Independence Health.

The milestones are a testament to the teamwork, innovation and dedication to helping patients, said Dr. Joseph Kusick, interventional cardiologist and lead physician of the structural heart program at Butler Memorial Hospital.

That facility started performing the procedures 10 years ago. Westmoreland Hospital began doing them five years ago.

“These continued achievements reflect our unwavering commitment to keeping the highest level of cardiovascular care in our region,” Kusick said in a statement.

Weaver, who lives a few miles from the Greensburg hospital, was happy to have an option for the procedure close to home.

“The people, the staff down there were really good,” he said.