SEBRING, Fla. — In the past, ABC Action News has reported on the difficulties of receiving and delivering medical services in some of Florida's rural counties. Healthcare providers in those regions are forced to provide innovative ways to service areas that don’t have nearby hospitals and clinics.
One local hospital in rural Highlands County has come up with a creative way to promote heart health at home.
“I am a youth, young adult pastor at the Avon Park Seventh Day Adventist Church,” said Pastor Rodney McFadden. Last year, during a routine dental appointment, they noticed his blood pressure was extremely high. “And so they would not continue with the procedure that they wanted to do.”
The next day, Pastor McFadden went to Advent Health in Sebring to see a doctor. “She was extremely alarmed and she said ‘Listen, I cannot let you go home today,'” said Pastor McFadden.
What he found out next would shock him.
“They said with my blood pressure being that high, it was a miracle that I even made it out of there without a heart attack or anything,” said Pastor McFadden. At only 43, he was close to death and after his emergency procedure, they found a 96% blockage in the blood going to his heart.
“We know for a time now that heart disease is the number one killer in the world,” said Dr. Deepti Bhandare with AdventHealth Sebring. Dr. Bhandare was Pastor McFadden’s cardiologist.
“I think the number one problem is a bad diet that we have and a lack of exercise,” said Dr. Bhandare. “I mean, it’s like a vicious cycle. Your bad diet leads to hypertension, hypertension leads to heart disease.”
Advent Health plans to make heart health more accessible and attainable for patients with heart conditions through a program that gives out free kits for people to monitor their health from home. The kit contains a digital scale, measuring device for fluids, a blood pressure monitor, pill organizer, and pulse oximeter.
The program, which was launched last year, is run by doctors in training. Through the use of these kits, patients can relay important heart health information back to their doctors.
So far, they’ve given out more than 50 heart health kits and they say this has led to an 8% decrease in hospital re-admissions due to heart failure. “We’re going to keep it going at least for the foreseeable future because we think we’ve got a lot more lives to touch and, hopefully, a lot more hearts heal,” said Dr. Chad Brands with AdventHealth Sebring.
For more information on heart health, click here.
