Partners N E WS F R O M L MH HE A LTH F O U NDATI ON
Fall 2025
Knowing symptoms is key to surviving a heart attack Donna Oleson has always been a woman on the go. As a former Eudora city clerk, rhythmic aerobics instructor, administrative assistant and education paraprofessional — it was no wonder that Oleson may be a little tired due to her busy lifestyle. Although she seemed tired all the time, she wasn’t experiencing any other symptoms. That all changed on a Saturday afternoon Donna Oleson in September 2022. “I’d been cleaning the living room, and I remember thinking I was tired, and I should sit down,” she said. “I dozed off, and when I woke, I knew something wasn’t quite right.” In 2020, the leading cause of death in Douglas County was heart disease. From this data, the mortality rate within the county translates to a death due to cardiovascular disease roughly every two days. Medical professionals recommend knowing both the risk factors for heart disease and the common symptoms of a heart attack.
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“If our heart is unhappy and isn’t getting enough oxygenated blood, it’s trying to communicate that to us,” said Elizabeth Guastello, MD, a cardiologist with the LMH Health Heart Center. ”If you feel like you’ve got an elephant sitting on your chest, pain radiating down your arm or jaw pain, it’s vital that you get checked out immediately,” she said. “Call 911 and get to the emergency room. Time is heart muscle.” Oleson has long been active with the American Heart Association and Go Red for Women, so when she began to vomit and felt intense heart pain, she knew something was wrong. She began to bang on the wall to get her granddaughter’s attention and told her she thought she was having a heart attack. They called 911 and when the paramedics arrived, they told Oleson she was right. “They loaded me in the ambulance and put nitroglycerin under my tongue,” she said. “I remember telling them that it hurt so badly, but that’s it until I got to the hospital and found out I’d flat-lined, and they had to perform CPR.” Oleson’s decision to call paramedics — instead of having her granddaughter drive to the hospital — saved her life. Not only had she flat-lined in the ambulance, Oleson had a total blockage of one artery and another was 90% occluded. —continued inside