CHI St. Vincent hospital has begun using a program to help treat heart failure.

The procedure is called extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, which is also known as ECMO on adults.

ECMO removes blood from the body and artificially removes the carbon dioxide and oxygenating red blood cells.

24-year-old Joe Lee Crawford had congenital heart disease and after he had trouble oxygenating. His doctors performed the ECMO treatment.

"I think from now own when we really look back from the beginning of this program at CHI St. Vincent,  we are all going to remember this patient because he was perfect for it and what the program means what this particular machine does for patients like him and he survived," said Dr. Michael Bauer, cardiovascular surgeon at CHI St. Vincent.

CHI St. Vincent also purchased a new product called nitric oxide just for Crawford that is now available to all patients.