Several hundred people learned valuable information about their heart health during The University of Tennessee Medical Center’s second annual Heart Wise event Saturday, Feb. 20 at the medical center’s Heart Lung Vascular Institute. While many attended heart health education and healthy cooking programs, more than 250 took advantage of the free or deeply reduced cardiovascular and pulmonary screenings offered by UT Medical Center.

Deborah Welch of Morristown made it a point to be among the first to sign up for the comprehensive cardiovascular risk assessment screening.

“By coming here last year for this screening and having them find the blockage when they did, it most likely saved my life,” Welch said. “There was no way I was going to miss HeartWise this year.”

Welch came to the inaugural HeartWise in 2009. That’s when the director of UT Medical Center’s Non-Invasive Vascular Lab, Jim Edmondson, determined through a carotid artery screening that Welch had a significant blockage in her right carotid artery. The carotid arteries supply oxygenated blood to the brain. Severe blockages in these arteries could put someone at a significant risk for stroke. Edmondson determined that Welch had a blockage of approximately 85 percent.

That determination immediately resulted in a visit from a vascular surgeon during the health screening event. Within weeks, Welch underwent an endarterectomy, a surgery to remove the blockage in her carotid artery caused by a plaque build up.

“Community screenings and education programs are so important because cardiovascular disease is so rampant in Tennessee, especially here in East Tennessee,” said Dr. John Mack, a heart surgeon at UT Medical Center and Medical Director of the medical center’s Heart Lung Vascular Institute. “Tennessee ranks among the worst in the nation for deaths associated with cardiovascular disease. Likewise, we’re among the worst in the nation for risk factors that contribute to cardiovascular disease, such as smoking, obesity and hypertension. I really hope we can help promote positive changes in lifestyles through HeartWise. And I’m encouraged, because I had many people tell me today that they learned about ways they could make simple changes to reduce their own risks of developing the disease.”

The impact of HeartWise certainly has changed Deborah Welch’s life. Now, she’s sharing her experience with others and encouraging them to learn about their heart health.

“When you reach a certain age, everybody needs to have these things checked, especially if you have a family history of heart disease,” Welch said. “The damage that can be done from not going through these screenings can be devastating. When I had my surgery, I missed one week of work. So it’s not like this is something that puts you out of commission for a long period of time, but it certainly is something that can save your life.”

Welch greeted Edmondson with a big hug when she saw him at the 2010 HeartWise. He made sure that he was the one to give Welch her carotid screening this year as well. Fortunately, her carotid arteries look much better this year. But she knows she’ll always need to have the arteries closely monitored and regularly checked in order to minimize her risk of a serious medical condition.

Other potentially lifesaving screenings provided during HeartWise included a cardiac calcium scoring utilizing the non-invasive 64-slice scanner and COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) screenings. The health education at the event included diabetes and stroke education, Ask-a-Doc, know your numbers, cardiac rehabilitation education and facility tour, nutrition education, healthy option food label reading, understanding Type II diabetes. Additional programs and talks included grocery shopping tips for a healthy heart, congestive heart failure symptoms and treatments, women and heart disease and a health cooking demonstration by UT Medical Center’s Healthy Living Kitchen team.

UT Medical Center is currently constructing the region’s only dedicated Heart Hospital. Opening in April, the Heart Hospital will provide for the community a strategically planned coordination of care and services for patients with dedicated physicians, nurses and other health care professionals together in the same building specifically to follow evidence-based clinical pathways for the treatment of cardiovascular and pulmonary disease. The dedicated Heart Hospital will allow UT Medical Center’s Heart Lung Vascular Institute to expand its inpatient services to meet the growing cardiovascular and pulmonary needs of the community.