HEART FAILURE CLINIC:
at
HOME Jeff doesn’t – and didn’t then – look like a man with heart failure. “I’ve never hurt and never felt bad – just fatigue,” he recalled. “I could go out in the yard and piddle in the garden for 15 minutes and take a two-hour nap. Dr. Carey said I probably picked up a virus that attacked my heart. “Dr. Carey was always up-front with me, which I appreciated,” Jeff added. “I asked, ‘What are my chances if I do everything you ask?’ Eighty-five to 90 percent.” Jeff underwent an electrical cardioversion, or a shock to his heart to restore it to a normal rhythm. After a catheterization and stress test showed no blockages or heart attacks, Dr. Carey prescribed a regimen of medicines, including beta blockers, angiotensinconverting-enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and aldosterone antagonist. “Today, Jeff’s ejection fraction is in the range of 55 to 60 percent, which is normal,” Dr. Carey said. “His heart has become stronger, which eliminated the need for a special type of pacemaker called a defibrillator. His prognosis right now is very good.” Now retired, Jeff oversees work at his two family farms, serves as umpire for high school baseball and softball games, enjoys hunting and fishing, and travels with his wife of 30 years, Christine. “I take my medicine, go to the gym and use the treadmill, and watch my diet,” Jeff said. “I lost a little weight, and plan to do more. I consider myself really fortunate that my heart has improved.”
Concentrated care
A
ccording to U.S. medical registries, only one in four patients with heart failure receives all of the evidence-based-guideline-recommended treatments. Most receive only one or two of the recommended treatments. “That’s comparable to a cancer patient receiving only half of the recommended chemo dose,” notes Charles Carey, M.D., Medical Director of St. Anthony’s Heart Specialty Associates’ outpatient Heart Failure Clinic. “The Heart Failure Clinic is designed to make sure patients get the maximum medical Lewis Rice Heart treatment studies recommend. It’s Evaluation and Rapid an evidence-based program that Treatment (HEART) Unit: acts as if the patient were on a medical trial.”
St. Anthony’s has
HEART
Y The only one of its kind in the St. Louis area
St. Anthony’s Heart Failure Clinic
FAST FACTS • More than enrolled
600 patients
• Average patient increase in ejection fraction (heartpumping ability): 15 points
Y Provides
comprehensive, efficient care of outpatients with non-life-threatening heart issues
YStaffed 24 hours a day,
seven days a week, with a nurse practitioner and nurses
• Average hospital readmission rate for Heart Failure Clinic patients: 3.3 percent
Y Ten-bed unit offers
• National average readmission rate for heart failure patients: 23 percent
Y No waiting room;
W
pleasant, hotel-like accommodations patients are monitored in private rooms
Learn more:
Call 314-ANTHONY (268-4669) or visit: stanthonysmedcenter.com
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