After more than six decades serving his community in law enforcement, 83-year-old Roy Dale Smith knows the value of showing up with steadiness, integrity and care for others.

So when it came time to trust someone with his own heart, those same values mattered.

For Dale, his experience at FMOL Health | St. Francis wasn’t defined by the procedures he underwent. It was defined by how consistently he and his wife, Renee, were treated with kindness, confidence and genuine compassion at every turn.

“Everybody was just so darn nice and confident,” Dale says. “It wasn’t just a few people. It was everyone.”

When ‘Just Getting Older’ Started to Feel Like Something More

For years, Dale had a heart murmur that doctors kept an eye on. It never seemed urgent until it was.

“It never seemed to get any worse,” Dale says. “But when I went to see Dr. Ross Smith, he told me, ‘We need to take care of that. That’s the main cause of stroke.’”

Around the same time, everyday activities became harder.

“I couldn’t walk 50 feet hardly. I had shortness of breath, those little signs that everything is not just right.”

That conversation led to a fast-moving plan: a heart catheterization, a transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) and eventually a pacemaker all within a short period of time.

Three Procedures. One Steady Team.

Dale’s care team included Thomas Ross Smith, MD, interventional cardiologist, and Sarah Ahmad, MD, cardiothoracic surgeon. What stood out wasn’t just their expertise. It was how personal the care felt.

“It wasn’t like a doctor and a patient,” Dale says. “It was like a friend talking to a friend.”

One moment, in particular, stays with him.

“I was laid up there on the operating table, very uncomfortable, and Dr. Ross Smith came over and put his hands on my chest and said, ‘I’m getting ready to pray for you.’”

The busy room became still.

“Everyone in that operating room stopped whatever they were doing. And he prayed for me personally. I knew right then I was on the right team and in the right place.

The Difference in the Details

From admissions to recovery, Dale says kindness at St. Francis was constant and consistent.

“It wasn’t just a few people. It was everyone,” he says. Every time I came to the hospital, people were going out of their way to be helpful and kind.”

He remembers several team members by name, including nurse practitioner and structural heart program coordinator Jaclyn Green, NP, whom he describes simply as “an angel.”

“She was absolutely wonderful. She’d call every time, check on us. It meant a lot.”

That compassion extended to familiar faces, too, including a fellow church member who works at St. Francis and made a point to stop by and visit Dale regularly.

“It was nice to know you had somebody there who really cared about you,” he says.

Care Close to Home with Deep Roots

St. Francis wasn’t just convenient. It was part of Dale’s story long before he became a patient.

His mother worked at the hospital decades earlier, and some of his earliest memories involve waiting for her shift to end.

“That was back in the 1950s,” he says. “I’d walk over after school and lay down until she got off work.”

Now, living about 40 minutes away, staying close to home for something this serious mattered.

“If I have to go to the hospital again, it’s going to be at St. Francis,” Dale says.

A Lifetime of Service Honored On and Off the Court

Dale spent more than 60 years serving his community — from military service to local police departments to investigative leadership roles across Louisiana. That lifetime of service hasn’t gone unnoticed.

On February 27, Dale will be recognized as an FMOL Health | St. Francis Warhawk of the Game during the University of Louisiana Monroe’s women’s basketball matchup against the Troy Trojans, honoring his courage, resilience and lifelong service to others.

Life After TAVR

Today, Dale says the difference is clear. “Since then, I don’t have shortness of breath.”

While he’s still rebuilding strength in his legs, his heart, and his outlook, are steady. “My blood pressure is good. All my vital signs are good.”

Looking back, he doesn’t hesitate to sum it up. “You hate to use this word for a medical procedure, but it was wonderful.”

What stayed with Dale wasn’t just how his heart recovered. It was how he was treated every step of the way.

Learn about cardiovascular services across our health system.