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It wasn't so long ago men were thought to be most at risk for heart disease. For years, the classic signs of a heart attack--intense, gripping pain radiating to the jaw or left arm, profuse sweating and a feeling of terror--were what emergency department personnel looked for in men and women.
Not so today, where American Heart Association (AHA) statistics show women are more likely to present with shortness of breath, nausea or vomiting, and back or jaw pain. And one in three will die from cardiovascular disease. That number represents too many mothers, sisters, daughters and friends, and was a driving force behind the development of the Shasta Regional Medical Center (SRMC) Women's Heart Center in Redding, CA.
By Women, For Women
Lead by an exceptional team of women, the center's goal is to serve the needs of women in the North State with a focus on women's heart health issues through education, prevention information and early diagnosis of heart disease.
The clinic opened in the medical center's surgery pavilion in March under the watchful eye of Anne Cahill, MD, SRMC medical director of cardiovascular surgery; Sheryl Hallstrom, RN, clinical coordinator; and Leslie White, RN, clinical director. Nearly 200 women have gone through the 1-hour session offered. Hallstrom said women rarely present with the same heart attack signs as men; 43 percent of women never even have pain.
"We're here to prevent heart disease deaths with early detection and treatment," she continued. "Most women ignore all the warning signs, thinking they're more likely to get breast cancer. The truth is, women are nearly 10 times more likely to die from heart disease than breast cancer and many times more likely to develop heart disease, which will impact their quality of life."
"When Dr. Cahill got here a year ago, we started brainstorming about what we could do specifically for the women in our area," White said. "We knew we had to provide an educational forum for women that also offered testing to be worthwhile."
Cahill agreed. "This had been a tremendous source of frustration in my practice in the past because no one listened to me about symptoms and heart disease," she said. "This is a community-wide effort to educate women."
Cross Your Heart "There's a real comfort level here," White shared. "The women really open up. They tell Sheryl things they haven't even told their doctors."
"Women are more likely to think they have indigestion or fatigue when they're having a heart attack," Hallstrom noted. "Women are used to not feeling 100 percent, and the impact of that means more women are having heart attacks and ignoring them until it's too late."
She said warning signs for heart attack in women potentially can go undetected because they're different than the "classic" signs men present with, their similarity to the flu and because women don't take the time to care for their own health. She noted recent studies have shown that some women don't experience any chest pain before or during a heart attack, but may find themselves dealing with unusual fatigue, sleep disturbance, shortness of breath, indigestion and/or nausea, anxiety, cold sweats, weakness or dizziness.
In response, the women's heart clinic aims to evaluate a woman's risk of heart disease through a visit that includes a lipid profile, glucose testing, cardiac risk profile, 12-lead ECG, blood pressure and heart rate, BMI, ankle-brachial index test and lots of conversation. The ECG is interpreted by a cardiologist during the session while Hallstrom checks height and weight and looks at family history of peripheral artery disease and congestive heart failure. The 1-hour session costs $45 and it's worth every penny, Hallstrom said.
"We discuss all the results and set up a plan to improve their health," Hallstrom explained. "We emphasize risk-factor identification and modification based on American Heart Association guidelines. This is not just major education for these women, it's also hand-holding and cheerleading. Often, it means a real lifestyle change, and that's hard."
While the center is designed for women, she noted a few men have ventured into the "pink territory."
"Even though we're a women's center, we have a 'dude' packet," she said with a chuckle. "We've had some couples come in together and a woman who brought her friends. People want those they love to be safe, and what better gift to give?"
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