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Women's Heart Health Day | AGH Opens Center for Women's Heart Disease Carlton Cardiology Associates, Inc., along with CCAC Women’s Council, are taking steps to help women in the battle against heart disease. In 2006, a special mission project, Women’s Heart Health Day, was launched to educate women in the prevention and treatment of heart disease. This year, Women’s Heart Health Day, which is a free, public health event, will be on Friday, May 16, 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. at Community College of Allegheny County, the Allegheny Campus on the North Side of Pittsburgh. Guest of Honor William Strickland will receive a distinguished award from the American Heart Association. His award is for his positive strength and commitment to health, education and welfare in addition to his artistic creativity that contributed to the northside community. His wife, Rose, will accept this award in his honor. Other highlights include:
Interested attendees can register by calling 412-369-3794 or visiting the vent website at www.carltoncardio.com. Walk-ins are also welcome. Allegheny General Hospital Opens Center for Women’s Heart Disease in McCandless
Fortunately, women in the Pittsburgh region now have access to a unique medical facility that is dedicated to the wellness of their hearts. Located in McCandless on McKnight Road, the Allegheny General Hospital Women’s Heart Center is a comprehensive outpatient program that provides women with an array of preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic cardiovascular services in one convenient location. According to Srinivas Murali, M.D., director of AGH’s Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and medical director of the AGH Gerald McGinnis Cardiovascular Institute, the demand for a program focused exclusively on women’s cardiovascular health is significant considering the increasing prevalence of the disease and a growing body of knowledge about its distinct manifestations in women. “Cardiovascular disease strikes women in epidemic proportions, yet studies consistently show the vast majority are largely unaware of their risk for this disease. In western Pennsylvania, with its aging demographic, the incidence of heart disease is even more pronounced. Our goal with this new center is to create a resource for women unlike any other, a facility where patients can be evaluated, diagnosed, medically managed and educated about risk reduction all in one place,” Dr. Murali said. Women visiting the new center will have the opportunity to undergo a comprehensive cardiovascular disease risk assessment that helps doctors develop an individualized prevention and treatment plan. Advanced non-invasive cardiovascular diagnostic capabilities available onsite include echocardiography, nuclear stress testing, treadmill stress testing and holter monitoring. If more extensive diagnostic testing is necessary, the center affords women swift access to AGH’s nationally recognized cardiac catheterization and cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) programs. Novel diagnostic modalities such as cardiac MRI and multi-slice computed tomography (CT) will also be available at TheWoman’s Heart Center in the near future, Dr. Murali said. Other diagnostic and women’s health services offered at the AGH McCandless building include laboratory testing, mammography, bone densitometry, gynecology and endocrinology. “This program has been designed to provide state-of-the-art, multi-disciplinary, gender specific cardiovascular care throughout a woman’s lifespan. By employing a proven disease prevention model of care and surrounding patients with the highest level of clinical expertise and technological innovation, we hope to empower more women to take a proactive role in addressing and improving their cardiovascular health,” said Indu Poornima, M.D., AGH cardiologist and medical director of The Women’s Heart Center. Dr. Poornima is one of four female cardiologists on staff at the AGH McGinnis Cardiovascular Institute who will oversee the care of patients at the new center. The others include Kimberly French, M.D., Rina Gandhi, M.D., and Rachel Hughes-Doichev, M.D. Healthcare professionals at the center will offer women the complete range of services to promote healthy lifestyle changes, including dietary and exercise counseling, smoking cessation, cholesterol management, diabetes education, blood pressure monitoring, stress management and hormone replacement guidance. The Women’s Heart Center will also provide women with access to innovations in the treatment of cardiovascular disease that are not yet available to the general public but can be obtained through AGH’s participation in clinical trials research. The AGH McCandless Building is located just nine miles from downtown Pittsburgh at 9335 McKnight Road, immediately past the intersection of McKnight and Cumberland Road. Parking at the facility is free. Those wishing to set up an appointment may call 1-877-284-2000. Hearing is a Process, Not an Event!By Dr. R. Patrick Francis, Board Certified Audiologist In Honor of Better Speech and Hearing Month.You will need to re-acquaint yourself with the world of sound that is often forgotten, and rarely accurately remembered. The road to better hearing is a process; it does not just happen the first day you try hearing aids. Hearing loss affects both your awareness of sound (loudness) and the quality (base/treble) of sound. Typically, a person seeking help with their hearing has had the problem loss for many years. And like most problems in life, the longer problems are unresolved, the more complicated the solution becomes. This unfortunate fact holds true for untreated hearing loss. As hearing loss gradually worsens, sounds slowly fade into the distance until they simply no longer exist and are soon forgotten. After years of hearing sound in a muted fashion, we tend to remember sounds with the same muted quality. Because we tend to “remember” sound in a muted fashion, we become almost hyper-sensitive to the presence of these sounds when they are again made audible. Our brain’s re-awakening to the awareness of sound often results in the perception that they are too loud. The perception of loudness is not the only facet of our hearing that changes with unresolved hearing loss. Often the quality of sound is not what we remember. Again, it is directly related to the way the brain currently perceives sound, and how it “remembers” sounds. We typically lose hearing in the high pitches first. So gradually, the world of sound that constantly surrounds us becomes dull and flat. Over time, our brain “expects” sound to be dull and flat, thus we start to remember sounds in that fashion. With the reintroduction of proper pitch, the brain again overreacts. This can result in the perception that things sound tinny and sharp. For years our brain has been telling us that the world of sound is muted, dull and flat. With hearing aids, we hear sounds that were “never” there (forgotten sounds), the sounds that we do remember were never that loud (muted), and they sound artificial (base/treble). What do we do now? Fortunately, there are several tools at our disposal to help patients navigate this reacquired sense of hearing. First, it is the responsibility of the audiologist to ask about your hearing world. The audiologist will then be in a position to help you anticipate experiences and special circumstances you may encounter. Secondly, the available technology can be extremely sophisticated. Many hearing aids can monitor the sound around you, record any changes that you make, self adjust, and even suggest changes based on this information. Some hearing aids have the capacity to be pre-set to make specific changes based on hours of use or over a period of months. This can save you time and in some cases, a trip to the audiologist for an adjustment. Finally, you must become actively involved in the process of better hearing. Use your hearing aids daily and keep track of your new hearing experiences. Then share these experiences, both good and bad, with your audiologist so that they can ensure you are getting the most out of your hearing aids. If hearing instruments are used consistently and with determination, adaptation will eventually take place and sounds become normal again. With the sophisticated technology that is available, and a skilled audiologist, you will be able to make the transition to better hearing comfortably. Given the right attitude, the experience can be quite fun and rewarding. Happy Hearing!
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Heart disease is the leading cause of
death for women in the United States,
killing twice as many each year than all
forms of cancer combined. More than six million
American women currently suffer from the
disease, including one in six over the age of 65.
Dr. R. Patrick Francis, Board Certified Audiologist
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