Heart Month: A Spotlight on Cardiology

April 15, 2023

February is the month of love—and the organ most associated with it. Heart Health Month is commemorated by the healthcare sector across the country to raise awareness on cardiovascular conditions and the importance of early heart health care.

This Heart Health Month, it’s time you paid attention to your heart and risk factors for hypertension, cardiovascular disease, coronary artery disease, heart failure, and other conditions that profoundly impact one of the body’s most critical organs and your quality of life. Early prevention, timely diagnosis, and consistent care can greatly improve your heart health and overall well-being—but largely ignored and delayed during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to poorer outcomes.

Learn all about the importance of regular check-ups and ways to prevent cardiovascular disease with proper cardiac care in Manistique.

Why Heart Health and Cardiovascular Care Teams Matter

As you know, the heart is responsible for pumping blood throughout the body, making it one of your most vital organs, one that’s impossible to live without. When heart problems and related ailments in the valves or arteries develop, these can have fatal consequences. This is why it’s important to stay on top of heart health, and the reason that cardiology exists, an entire field of medicine dedicated to prevention, diagnosis, and treatment or management of heart conditions.

Without proper attention towards heart health, cardiovascular diseases can develop. These range from atherosclerosis or blockage of the arteries and high blood pressure, to a heart attack, stroke, heart failure, and other potentially fatal effects. And while cardiovascular diseases can affect virtually anyone, some are at higher risk than others.

Who is at risk of cardiovascular diseases?

The risk of cardiovascular disease may be higher in certain individuals than others due to factors such as:

Age 55 or older for females and 45 or older for males
Being overweight
A sedentary lifestyle or doing little to no exercise
Eating an unhealthy diet of foods high in sugar, fat, and sodium
A family history of early heart disease, such as a father or male sibling diagnosed by age 55 and mother or sister by 65
Having diabetes, gestational diabetes, or prediabetes, high cholesterol, or high blood pressure
A history of preeclampsia or sudden elevation in blood pressure during pregnancy
Misuse of prescription or recreational drugs, and alcohol
Smoking and vaping.

How to Prevent Cardiovascular Disease

The good news is, cardiovascular disease is preventable—and this is exactly the goal of Heart Health Month and the entire field of cardiology. With a healthy lifestyle and proper cardiac care, heart diseases, heart attacks, and strokes can be prevented and treated in time in Manistique.

Let’s take a look at the ways to prevent cardiovascular disease:

Exercise: An active lifestyle that includes aerobic exercises, resistance training, and balance, flexibility, and stretching not only improve your fitness and increase flexibility, but these are also vital in preventing serious heart diseases. With regular exercise, you can regulate your blood pressure, sugar, and cholesterol, strengthen the heart muscle, and help you maintain a healthy weight.
Healthy diet: A diet consisting of heart-healthy foods not only nourishes the body, but lowers your risk of high cholesterol, blockages in the arteries, high blood pressure, heart attack, and cardiovascular disease. A commitment to avoiding foods high in fat, sodium, and sugar can keep your heart healthy every day for years.
Managing risk factors: As you’ve learned earlier, some people may be at higher risk of cardiovascular diseases. The key is to find out these risks as early as possible and address them. If you have a family history of heart disease, other health conditions, unhealthy habits such as smoking and over drinking, and are at least 55 years old, it’s critical to take steps towards lowering your risk of developing heart disease. A major part of cardiology is educating individuals at high risk and providing preventative care to improve health and quality of life outcomes.

When to See a Cardiologist for Heart Check-Ups

It’s often said that prevention is the best cure—and the same is true for heart disease. This is especially important if you have at least one of the risk factors for developing cardiovascular issues. A big part of this is booking regular check-ups with a cardiologist in Manistique to ensure that any risk does not progress to a life-threatening heart condition.

At minimum, it’s important to have a full cardiology workup at least once a year. If a cardiologist determines that you are at high risk of heart disease, they may recommend more frequent check-ups, as well as other early interventions such as a healthier diet, specific exercise regimen, and other lifestyle changes.

For example, if your cardiologist finds that you may be at risk of developing Coronary Artery Disease, they may order a nuclear stress test that involves taking 3D images of the heart aided by a radioisotope. This allows them to spot blockages in the arteries that affect blood flow and oxygen level.

If you are at least 55 years old or if you have a history of heart disease in your family, this Heart Health Month may be the wake-up call you need to see our cardiology team in Manistique to protect your heart health.

Visit Schoolcraft Memorial Hospital for Heart Health in Manistique

At Schoolcraft Memorial Hospital, we take heart health seriously, and we’re committed to providing preventative care to reduce your risk of a heart attack and heart disease. Our cardiology team in Manistique provides a number of cardiac procedures that help assess your heart health, identify risk factors, diagnose heart disease early, and manage any heart condition.

With one of the most advanced cardio-pulmonary care centers in the Upper Peninsula, we provide these tests and treatments for heart disease:

EKG
Comprehensive echocardiogram
Treadmill stress testing
Stress testing with imaging
Cardioversion
Outpatient monitoring, and more.

Our cardiology team includes Dr. Nicholas Hoeve and Jen Casey, NP. Our cardiologist, Dr. Nicholas Hoeve is heavily invested in preventative cardiology, with the help of cardiovascular imaging. With board certifications in internal medicine, adult cardiology, comprehensive adult echocardiography, and nuclear cardiology, Dr. Hoeve and Jen Casey, NP can assess and monitor your heart health, and help you prevent heart disease. It’s time to take heart health seriously to enhance your quality of life and increase your life expectancy.

Do you or your family have a history of heart disease, or other risk factors? Heart health should be taken seriously—and we’re here to help you do exactly that. Book a visit to Schoolcraft Memorial Hospital in Manistique today.