- Men's Health, Heart Care, Patient StoriesGeneral Page Tier 3BlogIt had been a good night. After celebrating Mass, Father Jim Kiesel, a pastor at St. Joseph Parish in Odenton, took a group of seminary students he was supervising out to dinner. “We had a ball,” Father Jim says.“I felt great.” But when he got home, Father Jim, 58, says he started having pains in his chest and a tingling down his arm. His chest felt heavy. So he phoned a parishioner, who is also a nurse, for advice. “She told me to call 911 immediately.” It was the best advice he could have received. When Father Jim arrived at the emergency room of AAMC, he was quickly diagnosed with what’s called ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, or STEMI, the most severe and dangerous form of heart attack, in which the blood flow in a coronary artery is completely blocked. Elizabeth Reineck, MD, an interventional cardiologist at AAMC, says the situation was grave: “The artery to the back side of his heart was completely blocked. We worked rapidly to get him to the catheterization lab and open up his artery.” 1,000 Lives—and Counting Luckily, Father Jim had arrived at the right place. AAMC’s Emergency Heart Attack Program has saved more than 1,000 lives since its introduction in 2002. It’s a certified intervention center, and the response time is among the best in the country. “The goal is to open a patient’s artery within 90 minutes from the time they arrive at the hospital,” Dr. Reineck says. “But here at AAMC, the vast majority of our patients have their artery open within 60 minutes.” In the catheterization lab, Father Jim received an emergency angioplasty. During the procedure, a balloon-tipped tube is threaded into the blocked artery and then inflated. He also received a stent, a tiny wire-meshed tube that holds the artery open. Father Jim says he feels incredibly lucky. The intervention saved his life, and the care that followed as he recovered at AAMC was compassionate and professional. “Anything I needed, they were right there to help me,” he says. The Doctor-Patient Partnership Father Jim says what has really stuck with him is the way Dr. Reineck and fellow cardiologist Jerry Segal, MD, interacted with him, “as an equal.” “So often doctors are in and out, but Dr. Reineck and Dr. Segal really took time with me,” Father Jim says. “It wasn’t just business—it was genuine care.” For her part, Dr. Reineck says she works hard to create a partnership between doctor and patient. “If you respect patients, they are more likely to value the information you provide,” she says. “For instance, if you help patients understand why the medication is important, they are much more likely to take it.” It’s worked for Father Jim. Despite eating well and exercising regularly, he admits he had one serious vice before his heart attack—cigarettes. “I’d been a smoker since I was 17.” But no longer. “I’m a reformed smoker now,” he says. Father Jim is also participating in AAMC’s Cardiac Rehabilitation Program, which offers medically supervised exercise and counseling. Now, Father Jim is again at work at St. Joseph, easing back into normal life. He says perhaps his biggest challenge these days is learning to let people take care of him instead of always taking care of others. “I have a long life ahead,” he says. “I’m confident of that.” And he adds happily, “I also expect to have a long relationship with my cardiologist.” Are you at risk? Learn your heart age and risk for heart disease with our free online heart health profiler. Contributor Elizabeth Reineck, MD, is an interventional cardiologist at Anne Arundel Medical Center.
- Community, Men's Health, Heart Care, Patient StoriesGeneral Page Tier 3BlogJeff Shields had been thinking and worrying about his heart for a long time. He knew he was a prime candidate for a heart attack. After all, he’s a type 2 diabetic, and his own father had died at 53 of a heart attack. “I’ve been trying to do the right things ever since I was 50 and I’m 62 now,” Jeff says. Still, despite his vigilance, when the heart attack arrived, Jeff barely recognized it. It was the first day of summer, and Jeff had come inside to rest after working outdoors. Heart Attack Symptoms Aren’t Always What You Think “I had an odd feeling, like a baby bib was under my neck. I had just a little tingling in my right arm, but not painfully, and I had this tightness in the back of my upper jaw.” These weren’t the symptoms for which Jeff had been on the lookout. They weren’t the symptoms he associated with a heart attack like arm and chest pain. Luckily, he’s married to a retired nurse who’d worked at AAMC for 25 years. “It was just so odd, so vague,” remembers Cathy Shields. “A lot of people would have ignored Jeff’s symptoms, and I could’ve maybe ignored them too, but because I’d been a nurse and well, the jaw pain, that was the deal breaker for me.” Cathy called 911. It was a life-saving decision. The ambulance paramedic confirmed that Jeff was having a heart attack and raced him to the emergency room at Anne Arundel Medical Center. Moments later, Jeff went into cardiac arrest. He received immediate defibrillation. Then he was rushed to the catheterization lab for an angioplasty. Marco Mejia, MD, an interventional cardiologist, used a balloon-tipped tube and wire-mesh stents to open Jeff’s blocked arteries. “Dr. Mejia literally saved my life,” says Jeff. “I’m pretty grateful to him and the whole team as well.” A Decade of Saving Lives Dr. Mejia helped create AAMC’s Emergency Heart Attack Program more than a decade ago. He’s immensely proud of what they’ve achieved. “Everyone knows their job, our team is set up and ready 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This program at AAMC is truly one of the best programs around.” In addition to saving more than a thousand lives, the program has dramatically reduced coronary intervention response time, even beyond national guidelines. The American Heart Association recommends that it take no more than 90 minutes from the time a heart attack patient arrives at a hospital until a blocked artery is opened. At AAMC, 90% of all patients have their arteries opened in less than 60 minutes. “The process is very refined now,” says Dr. Mejia. Jeff Shields considers himself incredibly lucky for the life-saving care he received at AAMC and for having a wife that recognized his vague symptoms as those of a heart attack. Dr. Mejia says it’s a story worth heeding. “We always want the community to know when you suspect heart attack you need to call ambulance right away.” Cardiac Rehab Helps with Lifestyle Changes As for Jeff Shields, his partnership with AAMC is still going strong. Following his emergency angioplasty, Jeff underwent successful quadruple bypass surgery. Once home, he enrolled in AAMC’s Cardiac Rehabilitation Program. It provides medically-supervised exercise, nutritional and behavioral counseling. Jeff also continues to see Dr. Mejia. “He’s very stern, he tells me exactly what I’ve got to do. I just love him.” As for Cathy, she offers this advice: “Pay attention to the vague stuff, don’t overlook it, and be alert.”
- Men's Health, Women's Health, Wellness, Patient StoriesGeneral Page Tier 3BlogWhat Susan Dennis says is most extraordinary about her life now is that it is so ordinary. In the last few months, she’s taken many long walks, gone to a baseball game, flown to Florida on vacation, and walked down the beach in a swimsuit. Nothing that unusual for a 40-year-old woman, except if you are Susan Dennis. Flash back a year, and Susan says you wouldn’t recognize her. She weighed over 300 pounds and had full-blown diabetes, high blood pressure and a host of other serious health issues. “I didn’t go out, I didn’t like seeing friends, walking was a chore,” Susan says. “I felt weighed down by myself, by everything. It wasn’t a happy existence.” A Lifelong Struggle Susan has struggled with her weight since she was 16. Over the years she tried fad diets, weight loss groups, even medically supervised prescription diets. But nothing worked. Finally, with her health in steep decline, her endocrinologist suggested bariatric surgery. At first, Susan balked at the idea. “I told her no. I thought it might be the easy way out and that I could do it on my own.” But as her health worsened, Susan finally realized she needed help. The Right Decision Susan decided to have gastric bypass surgery with Alex Gandsas, MD, who leads AAMC’s Weight Loss and Metabolic Surgery program. Susan says she liked that the care felt “very personalized.” Dr. Gandsas says it’s essential to have a rigorous bariatric surgery program that addresses the whole person. “We are helping our patients engage in a different life,” Dr. Gandsas says. “The surgery helps them change course and shed weight, but it’s only one component. We want them to have all the tools they need to permanently succeed.” Intensive Help Before, and After At AAMC, weight loss patients begin preparing for surgery six months in advance with medical testing, diet, exercise, and nutrition counseling. And it doesn’t end there. After surgery, patients continue to receive careful monitoring and meal plans. Just 4½ months after her surgery, Susan was doing great. In addition to having lost 83 pounds, her blood pressure was down and her diabetes was fully controlled. What’s more, Susan says she’s happy all the time. “I just feel wonderful, I feel like I can take over the world.” But for now she’s content trying to live her extraordinarily ordinary life. Next on the list: yoga classes. To learn more about bariatric surgery at Anne Arundel Medical Center, please visit www.AskAAMC.org/WeightLoss.
- Men's Health, Women's Health, Wellness, Patient StoriesGeneral Page Tier 3BlogIn 2012, Tammy Smith weighed 340 pounds. She attended a weight loss surgery seminar and decided to have gastric sleeve bypass. Her journey to new health habits began several months prior to her surgery, leading to a nearly 200-pound weight loss. Here’s Tammy’s story in her own words: Two years ago, I was very scared and nervous about the idea of bariatric surgery. I went to a seminar and met Bariatric Surgeon Dr. Alex Gandsas and he was amazing. After speaking with him, I decided to go through with the surgery to have the gastric sleeve bypass. The easiest part of the journey has been the surgery itself. There was very little pain. The hardest has been adjusting to a new way of thinking about food and establishing an exercise routine. But the program is set up for success by helping you adjust to new habits before surgery. Three months leading up to surgery, I met with the nutritionist in Dr. Gandsas office who guided me in the right direction. It was a lifestyle change that needed to take place in order to be successful. Each month, I picked two or three of the changes that needed to happen. I worked on making these changes every month until they became habits. As weeks went by the challenge was to make good choices and exercise regularly. I have lost 191 pounds. I started at 340 pounds and size 24. Now I am in a size 4. My journey has changed me. I love the new me. I never knew this life I now know could have existed. This surgery is not a quick fix or a magic procedure. It is about changing your way of life, not just a diet. Bariatric surgery is a tool in your tool box. Learning good eating habits and educating yourself about nutrition is key. For those who choose not to work out, the results will not be as great. The true test for maintaining and continuing my weight loss came after I lost my husband. Getting through the last six months has been a huge test to old eating habits. But I have stayed the course, and I know I will continue with my new lifestyle. I am so thankful for this program at AAMC. If you make the changes and do the hard work you will be successful! Learn more about bariatric surgery at www.AskAAMC.org/WeightLoss.
- Cancer Care, Men's Health, News & Press Releases, Women's HealthGeneral Page Tier 3BlogAAMC’s symptom management clinic provides cancer patients quick access to care when they are experiencing symptoms related to their treatment. The care provided through the clinic is coordinated with their oncologists and infusion team. As a result, patients with cancer are experiencing fewer hospital readmissions, fewer emergency room visits and they are happier with their care. Future enhancements include use of AAMC’s electronic medical records to not only track outcomes, but to provide patients with a portal to document their symptoms, and ask questions of the oncology team. This will further support an enhanced communications tool that patients and providers can use throughout the complex, multidisciplinary, continuum of care. The DeCesaris Cancer Institute received an Innovator Award from the Association of Community Cancer Centers for the implementation of this symptom management clinic. “It recognizes creativity and innovation in cancer care, which we’re all being asked to do more of,” says Catherine Copertino, RN, executive director of the DeCesaris Cancer Institute.
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