Atrium Health Urges Community to Focus on Heart Health

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Atrium Health Navicent Urges Community to Focus on Heart Health, Holds Screening Events for American Heart Month

Throughout most of our lives we hardly give a thought to the muscular organ that sits just to the left of our sternum behind our rib cage. A normal heart beats 80 to 100 times a minute while resting, and over an average lifetime, that comes to 100,000 times a day; about 35 million times in a year.

We don’t think about it, but what happens when our heart stops? On January 2, 2023, while making a routine tackle of Cincinnati Bengals’ receiver Tee Higgins, 24-year-old Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin got to his feet and then collapsed from cardiac arrest. If not for the immediate medical attention he received, Hamlin would have died. It was a shocking moment, aired on national television. Lisa Marie Presley, Elvis Presley’s only child, wasn’t so lucky. She died from cardiac arrest on Jan. 12, two weeks after Hamlin’s incident. Heart failure is the No. 1 killer of Americans with almost 2,000 victims every single day.

February is American Heart Month, a time when the community is urged to make cardiovascular health a priority, including taking steps to prevent strokes and hypertension (high blood pressure), which is a leading risk factor for heart disease and stroke.

During the month, Atrium Health Navicent will give out important information about heart health and hold screening events to help you identify potential heart conditions.

“We are doing angiogram screening tests where we can help screen patients to let them have more knowledge, and let them know what their risks are and what they can do to prevent heart disease. The key thing about heart disease is to address it before they have the event,” said Dr. Erskine James, director of Atrium Health Navicent’s Advanced Heart Failure Center and Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit medical director.

Unfortunately, many people ignore the warning signs their bodies are sending, James said.

Some of the symptoms of heart disease include, but are not limited to, tingling or discomfort in one or both arms, back, shoulder, neck or jaw, shortness of breath, cold sweat, unusual tiredness, heartburn-like feeling, nausea or vomiting, sudden dizziness, and fainting. The No. 1 symptom of heart trouble is chest pressure.

“I don’t like to call it chest pain, but pressure. Many patients say that ‘it feels like an elephant is sitting on my chest,’ or ‘I feel like I can’t catch my breath,” James said.

Atrium Health Navicent was the first hospital in the state to achieve the triple crown of accreditations by The American College of Cardiology (ACC) for three heart care programs:

• Chest Pain Center with Primary PCI accreditation
• Heart Failure Accreditation
• Atrial Fibrillation with EPS Accreditation

The Luce Heart Institute is also recognized by prestigious national institutions including U.S. News & World Report, Becker’s Hospital Review and the Society of Cardiothoracic Surgeons, the Institute is nationally recognized for its high-quality cardiac care.

Atrium Health Navicent Heart Month events include:

Febuary 3 and 17 (8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.)

$50 Angioscreen (FREE for Veterans)

Atrium Health Navicent Wellness Center
3797 Northside Drive
Macon, GA

Call for an appointment (1-800-627-2393)

February 4 and 19 (2:00 p.m.)

CPR and First-Aid Training
Instructor LaTanya Clark, Hands to Heart Training Services, LLC

Atrium Health Navicent Wellness Center
3797 Northside Drive
Macon, GA

Registration required
Call (478) 227-3955 for details and pricing

February 14 (11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.)

Go Red for Women’s Heart Health – FREE Luncheon
Guest Speaker: Dr. Erskine James

City of Byron Conference Center
401 Main Street
Byron, GA