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Rowan Regional Medical Center Recognizes Heart Month

SALISBURY, NC -- February is Heart Month, meaning it's a great time for people to examine the lifestyle choices they make as well as where to find care should a health issue arise. Rowan Regional Medical Center offers leading-edge heart and vascular care, from prevention to intervention. Heart and vascular disease is a leading cause of death for both women and men in the United States, and the battle against this alarming trend starts with prevention. Close to home, 1,600 people in Rowan County died from heart disease in the years 2004 through 2009, according to the Community Health Assessment conducted by the Healthy Rowan Task Force. You can significantly reduce your risk of heart and vascular disease by knowing the risk factors, living a healthy lifestyle and taking advantage of a wide range of diagnostic tests to help stop the disease in its tracks. To celebrate heart month and raise awareness of the risk factors about heart and vascular disease, Rowan Regional Medical Center is conducting activities all month long including: On Friday, February 3 from 7:30 – 8:30 a.m., Rowan Regional Medical Center is hosting “Wake Up to Heart Health” an event for local women. Telly Meadows, MD, interventional cardiologist from Mid Carolina Cardiology and Rowan Regional Medical Center will speak to women about the risk factors of heart disease and share simple steps to begin leading heart healthy lives. The event falls on the day of the American Heart Association’s National Wear Red Day, a day in which people across the United States are encouraged to wear red to support the fight against heart disease in women. The event will be held at the Crystal Lounge at Catawba College, all women are invited. To register for the event, call 1-800-335-4921. Free Heart Healthy cooking classes, led by registered dietitian, Michelle Musselwhite, RD, LDN, will teach participants ways to cook heart healthy in the kitchen without sacrificing taste. The cooking classes will be held Tuesday, February 21 from 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. & 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. in the Sophia Clay Kitchen at RRMC. To register for the cooking classes, please call 1-800-335-4921. An important first step in preventing heart and vascular disease and stroke is determining your level of risk. Beginning in February, Rowan Regional Medical Center will offer free one-on-one heart risk assessments, which include cholesterol level and blood pressure checks, as well as personal consultations on how to reduce your risk and advanced diagnostic tools. To schedule your risk assessment, call 1-800-335-4921. All month, hospital employees are encouraged to wear “red” to work to show our support in heart disease awareness. Clinical employees have the opportunity to purchase red scrub tops in the hospital gift shop and non-clinical employees are planning to wear red shirts, dresses, ties, scarves and more. In addition, the gift shop will roll out red merchandise available for purchase. To show the community the hospital’s support of heart month, several of the prominent outdoor lights on hospital buildings will shine red all month long. Light pole banners touting our heart attack care quality will be up on all the light poles surrounding the perimeter of the hospital. Each Friday during Lunch, each of our leaders, including our president, Dari Caldwell; chief operating officer, Sean Sanz; chief nursing officer, Katrina King; and vice-president, Dr. Tom Trahey will encourage employees to “Walk with Leaders” around our indoor track at the RRMC Cardiac Rehabilitation & Wellness Center. The purpose of the weekly walk is to encourage employees to incorporate exercise into their lives and take steps to become heart healthy. Café Rowan, the cafeteria at Rowan Regional, will be serving heart healthy food options all month for guests and visitors. In addition, dietitians from Café Rowan & Morrison’s Healthcare Food Service will offer heart healthy recipes and facts to patrons of Café Rowan. For any guest, visitor, employee or community members that take an active step towards heart health by participating in a community or employee event, they will be rewarded with a “Red Dress” pin from the American Heart Association. The pin is worn to demonstrate a personal pledge to raise awareness of heart disease. Several of Rowan Regional’s cardiologists, including Telly Meadows, MD, Apur Kamdar, MD, and Dennis Wilson, MD, from Mid Carolina Cardiology will speak to community groups at local venues such as the YMCA to support heart healthy living. In addition, Dr. Telly Meadows will lead a continuing medical education talk for local physicians and clinicians to increase awareness. Every Wednesday in February, and all year, the Rowan Regional Medical Auxiliary will offer free blood pressure checks in the lobby of Rowan Regional Medical Center. Blood pressure checks are available for guests, visitors, employees or community members that wish to have their blood pressure checked. Rowan Regional was nationally recognized as a Top Performer for Key Quality Measures, including heart attack and heart failure care, by The Joint Commission, the leading accreditor of healthcare organizations in America. Our interventional cardiologists, Telly Meadows, MD and Apur Kamdar, MD, of Mid Carolina Cardiology are trained by the Cleveland Clinic, the nation’s number one heart care program. Drs. Meadows and Kamdar offer around-the-clock heart attack care including minimally-invasive procedures such as coronary balloon angioplasty and stent placement. In addition, Paul Capito, MD, interventional radiologist at Rowan Regional Medical Center, offers groundbreaking treatment for peripheral artery disease, a vascular disease that affects nearly 12 million Americans. Rowan Regional Medical Center also offers a number of programs and tools to help you live a heart healthy lifestyle, through our nationally certified Cardiac Rehabilitation & Wellness Center, such as lifestyle programs, heart health support groups and cooking classes. Whether you have heart or vascular disease or just want to live a heart healthy lifestyle, you can trust your care and the care of your loved ones to Rowan Regional. Rowan Regional Medical Center has provided remarkable care for more than 75 years. To learn more about Rowan Regional Medical Center, please call 704-210-5000, or visit www.rowan.org.
Posted on Wednesday, February 01, 2012
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