Get Involved

Predraw Blood Draws only
Glenwood Springs Community Center
Wednesday March 7 and Wednesday March 21
6:30 to 10 a.m.   
 
Community Health Fairs 2012
(Blood tests, medical screenings and informational booths):
  
Coal Ridge High School (Silt/New Castle)
April 7, 2012, 7 a.m. to 11 a.m.
  
Roaring Fork High School (Carbondale)
April 14, 2012, 7 a.m. to 11 a.m.
 
Glenwood Medical Associates (Glenwood)
April 28, 2012, 7 a.m. to 11 a.m.
  

 
For more information call 384-6651 or 

http://www.vvh.org/pages/p-lab-blood-results.php 

DENVER (CBS4) – Chest pain is considered the hallmark symptom of a heart attack, but patients can also experience other kinds of pain, and in some cases, none at all. That’s especially true for women, and they can be missing the symptoms.

Researchers say younger women have a greater risk of dying from a heart attack. A new study in this week’s Journal of the American Medical Association indicates that may be because their warning signs are often very different.

Lalina Franklin was having neck and jaw pain. She had no idea she was on the verge of a severe heart attack .

“You think of some really bad pain in your chest and collapsing. I wasn’t having any pain at all in my chest,” Franklin said.

New research shows 42 percent of women under 55 do not feel chest pain during a heart attack. And hospitals often don’t diagnose those women properly until it’s too late.

“When women arrive to the hospital having a heart attack with symptoms different than chest pain, their care might not happen as immediate,” cardiologist Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum said.

Researchers say that’s why more than 14 percent of women are dying from heart attacks in the hospital compared to 10 percent of men.

Doctors say there are signs a woman can look out for besides chest pain.

“They might have other symptoms like jaw pain, back pain, shortness of breath, nausea, fatigue and simply sweating. All of these things could be a heart attack,” Steinbaum said.

Steinbaum says for any woman noticing those symptoms, getting help immediately could be critical.

“The quicker you can get to treatment the quicker we can save heart muscle and prevent you from dying,” she said.

Franklin had a stent put in to clear an artery.

“I am definitely lucky to be alive today,” Franklin said.

Now at 60 she says she feels much better.

The study stresses that chest pain and discomfort are still the primary symptoms of heart attacks, whether a man or a woman. But researchers say don’t ignore other kinds of pain as well.

Doctors also say every woman starting at age 20 should have her cholesterol and blood pressure checked on a regular basis to assess her heart attack risk.

Patients often ask what’s more important: exercise or losing weight?

As winter rolls through the Northern Hemisphere, maintaining fitness seems a timely and relevant topic.

Heck, maintaining or gaining fitness should always be a relevant matter!

A recently published study seems worth a comment on Cycling Wednesday.

In this math-heavy publication in the journal, Circulation, researchers from South Carolina, shed light on the importance of maintaining, gaining or losing fitness over time.

The Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study followed 14,435 men over 11 years. Researchers looked at how changes in fitness (measured by 2 treadmill exercise tests) and body weight (measured by BMI–Body Mass Index) related to death rates. Math people would say they focused on the delta—the change over time. (I added that sentence because I have fond memories of Calculus, and of course, I like to sound smart. < Insert > Grin.)

Here is a sifting down of the five major findings: (Again, good summaries–by professionals–can be found at CardioBrief and TheHeart.org.)

Men who maintained fitness reduced their death rate by 30%
Men who gained fitness reduced their death rate by 39%
Conversely, men who lost fitness doubled their risk of dying from heart disease.
For every 1 MET improvement in fitness (about 20 seconds/mile pace), there was a 15% reduction in death rate.
After adjusting for other causes, including changes in fitness, BMI by itself did not influence the risk of death.
This study reinforces my view that fitness remains central to health. The main contribution of this large and robust study stems from the novel finding that improving and maintaining fitness over time lowers mortality risk, while losing fitness worsens risk.

What’s up with the BMI data?

How could body weight not be significant?

The lack of effect of changes in weight are confusing. Some have interpreted the study as consoling to those who don’t lose weight but gain fitness. I have even read some headlines that suggest reducing fatness doesn’t reduce heart disease risk. That’s not what I think the study shows.

Rather, it showed that when BMI was looked at alone, excluding fitness, there wasn’t a significant increase in risk. That’s because most who gain fitness lose weight.

Also important is that this study looked at a specific and narrow population: men that were either normal weight or only slightly overweight (the average BMI was 26—thin by KY standards). Those individuals at normal body weight may not lose much weight when they begin an exercise program. Muscle mass increases can counter fat loss.

As pointed out by the researchers, it’s likely that losing weight would lower risk far more for those who are truly obese. My gut tells me that going from a BMI of 35 to 30 (14% less) would reduce risk more than going from 26 to 22.5. But what’s cool about the study findings is that normal weight people can markedly decrease heart disease risk by holding onto or gaining fitness.

So yes, I see this study as good news for the seemingly healthy patient who asks, “Doc, what else can I do to reduce my risk of dying?” Get fit, or fitter!

I also see it as a warning to competitive athletes to maintain fitness during the non-racing season. (Though not a coach, the thought of doing a different exercise in the off-season poofs into my mind here.)

The bottom line: fitness remains an incredibly powerful predictor of health. And fitness can be measured easily, without expensive scans or exposure to radiation.

For simple minds and minimalists, such news is reassuring.

JMM

The following is an excerpt from the Summer 2011 issue of, “The Weatherhead P.E.T. Imaging Center for Preventing and Reversing Atherosclerosis’s” newsletter called, “P.E.T. News”.

New study about HDL cholesterol Treatment
The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health has stopped
a clinical trial studying a blood lipid treatment 18 months earlier than planned. The trial found that adding high
dose, extended-release niacin to statin treatment in people with heart and vascular disease did not reduce
the risk of cardiovascular events, including heart attacks and stroke. This report has prompted lots of calls from patients wondering whether they should continue taking Niaspan.

Before taking any action based on this study alone, we always take a careful look at how the study was conducted and how it compares to other studies looking at the same issue. The results of this study are CONTRARY to several other large randomized trials that show a substantial benefit from raising HDL cholesterol. The data on the recent Niaspan trial has not been published in the medical journals yet so that it cannot be adequately evaluated.

However, several points stand out as follows:
1. The study showed no harm, but was stopped due to a reported lack of benefit without specific data provided
until this fall.
2. The patients selected had weighted average baseline LDL of 74 and HDL of 34. The HDL increased by 20%
to approximately 41 with Niaspan. Thus, the baseline lipids were not as severe as we commonly see in patients
with higher LDL, higher triglycerides and lower HDL. The study failed to achieve our HDL target of 45 to
50mg/dl and also failed to achieve the lipid and weight goals of our program.
3. The randomized, well done, definitive FATS and HATS trials of triple therapy including niacin showed
an 80% to 90% decrease in coronary events, the greatest benefit of any treatment ever reported for coronary artery disease and nearly double the benefit from statins alone.
4. Niaspan also changes the LDL and HDL particle size to the larger fluffier cholesterol particles such that
the larger LDL particles are less atherogenic and the larger HDL particle size provides more effective reverse
cholesterol transport out of atheroma thereby lowering atheromatous risk.
5. No drug therapy is a substitute for healthy food, lean body weight and exercise. The healthy living combined
with drug treatment to correct all lipid abnormalities is more effective than either approach alone, as shown in
the randomized HATS and FATS trial as well as the nonrandomized trial at the University of Texas.
We are not advising our patient to stop Niaspan as a result of these news reports. A large body of scientific data
indicates that Niapsan combined with other medications is beneficial, not contravened by the recent news reports.

Combined medications and healthy living as outlined above provide the best outcomes as we emphasize in our
program. Further analysis of the study will be conducted when it is available.

Read the full issue of P.E.T. News by clicking the following link. PET News Summer 2011

Please read MI:Aware? I aM Now! and gain an understanding of exactly who is susceptible to heart disease and pass it along to someone you care about.

Click here to read it now!

New Poll Reveals Our Health Worries are Misguided: Heart Disease NOT Cancer Should be Our Primary Concern
Midlifers are focusing on the disease that gets the most attention rather than the one that is most likely to strike.

BY: KAREN SPRINGENJULY 18, 20112 COMMENTS

SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES
A new poll shows that we need to be worrying about our hearts and our body mass index much more than cancer. Yet, cancer leads our list of health concerns.
Heart disease is the biggest killer in the United States. Yet a new AP-LifeGoesStrong.com poll found that the disease that most concerns 47- to 65-year-olds is cancer.

After all, who can forget Farrah Fawcett, known for her blonde mane, shaving off her hair during chemotherapy treatment?

“Heart disease is much more invisible,” says Dr. Gordon F. Tomaselli, president of the American Heart Association and professor and director of the division of cardiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

One reason: patients keep their hair during treatment. Another: less press. How many midlifers remember that Jerry Garcia died from a heart attack? But cancer made front-page news when women such as Elizabeth Edwards and Christina Applegate were struggling with it. (Edwards died. Applegate had a double mastectomy and had a baby.)

The study found that 44 of respondents said cancer was the disease that worried them most, followed by memory loss (20 percent), heart problems (13 percent), diabetes (4 percent), and stroke (2 percent).

The death toll tells a different story: heart disease annually kills 616,067 Americans, cancer kills 562,875, chronic lower respiratory diseases kill 127,924, accidents kill 124,706, Alzheimer’s disease kills 74,632, and diabetes kills 71,382, according to figures from the National Center for Health Statistics.

Cancer may seem scarier partly because Americans fear losing their hair and too much weight. “Cancer is viewed as a consumptive disease that eats you away slowly,” says Tomaselli. “People don’t realize those outward appearances can change with heart disease, too.”

Heart disease patients can get edema (swelling), and they can lose their appetite, which can lead to the loss of lean body mass. “Perhaps we haven’t gotten the message out,” says Tomaselli. The new survey is, he says, “absolutely” a call to action.

People forget that heart failure can also shorten longevity and hurt quality of life, says Tomaselli.

Today doctors can alleviate symptoms of heart disease by inserting pacemakers and cardiac stents into patients. “We are very effective at treating heart disease,” says Tomaselli. “Treatment is never as good as prevention.”

The small number of Americans who said they worried about stroke surprises Tomaselli, who says AHA surveys typically find “stroke rivals cancer.”

People don’t realize that the lifetime risk of women getting coronary heart disease is one in three; for getting breast cancer it is one in eight, says Dr. Donald Lloyd-Jones, a cardiologist who is chairman of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and was the lead author of the AHA’s strategic goals for 2020. And one in three women die from coronary heart disease whereas only one in 20 dies from breast cancer. So why do people worry so much more about cancer than heart disease? “Clearly there’s a disconnect,” says Lloyd-Jones.

For cardiovascular health, he says, Americans should stick to their ideal body weight, exercise, stop smoking, and keep cholesterol under 200 and blood pressure under 120 over 80, he says. He advises Americans to eat more fibrous foods, such as vegetables, which are filling but low in calories. It’s possible to be fit and fat — but better to be fit and lean, he says.

Americans often fail to realize that many patients who are treated for cancer may live the rest of their lives without the illness — but that is not the case with heart disease. People often don’t understand that while cancer is often curable, heart disease is not. “Once you have it, you can’t cure it,” says Lloyd-Jones.

Americans are gradually becoming more aware of heart disease, thanks to programs such as the AHA’s Go Red for Womencampaign. To learn more about the state of your heart health, take the My Life Check test.

A big part of the problem: Midlifers’ girth puts us at greater risk for heart disease (and for cancer). In the AP-LifeGoesStrong study, 36 percent of respondents provided height and weight figures that landed them in the “obese” category. (By contrast, only 26 percent of older respondents and 25 percent of younger ones were obese.) Another 36 percent of respondents met the criteria for “overweight,” and 27 percent met the criteria for “normal.”

The study indicates that we are trying to live a heart-healthy life: 63 percent of overweight respondents (and 49 percent of obese ones) said that in the past year, they have tried to improve their physical fitness by exercising regularly and 68 percent of the overweight respondents (and 72 percent of the obese ones) are on some type of diet.

Get your adventure side ready for another spectacular Ride Your Heart Out.

The ride will start approximately 8:30 am, after release/waivers are signed and finish in Aspen at Paradise Bakery, pass through Emma and/or Old Snowmass and pass through Snowmass to finish in Aspen again. Ride distances are approximately 50 km and 50 mi.

Course to include the famed Widowmaker (Divide Way) from last year climbing across Campground ski area at Snowmass to Krabloonik.

All riders should carry spare tube, air and water. Additional energy food and water will be available at the aid station again this year. Aid Station at Old Snowmass Conoco corner of Snowmass Creek Rd and Hwy 82.

As MI Aware is a registered Colorado Non-profit looking to take it to the next level, your donations will be used to complete the 501.C3 filing process, in addition to continuing our efforts to provide the latest most accurate awareness and prevention information through our website and twitter.

For more information send email to info@MIaware.org

Detailed Directions for the 30 mile ride include accessing the Rio Grande Trail from Aspen at Post Office, Turn Right on Cemetery Lane / McClain Flats Rd, Right on River Rd through Woody Creek to Old Snowmass Conoco. Refuel and return to aspen in the reverse.

50 mile ride including widowmaker and bail out. Follow same route as above to Old Snowmass, but pick up Rio Grande Trail to Basalt High School and Emma. Turn Left onto Sopris Creek Rd across from the Emma General Store and Left again onto East Sopris Creek Rd until you reach Capital Creek Rd. Take a Left onto Old Snowmass to refuel at Aid station Midstate Motors / Old Snowmass Conoco. Bail out by returning on River Roads to Woody Creek and McClain Flats back into Aspen same as departure route. To continue to the Widowmaker, take Snowmass Creek back out and turn left to continue on Snowmass Creek Rd, past Aspen Camp School for the Deaf until it turns to dirt. For those wanting to skip the Widowmaker, now’s your last chance to return to Aspen similar to above. Those up for the challenge continue on the packed dirt until it dead ends at Wilderness. Turn Left across the creek and left again at the fork to begin your climb to Krabloonik on Divide Way. It’s about 1.5 miles with some loose sections near the top. Once you’ve reached the summit it’s downhill cautiously to Brush Creek, Owl Creek, High Line, and Owl Creek again to Buttermilk. Pick up the bike path at Buttermilk to return to Paradise Bakery and grab some information that may save you and/or a loved one’s life.

This is a social ride, so please obey all rules of the road and trail.

Special Thanks to all of you attending, and Paradise Bakery, Basalt Bike and Ski, The Little Nell Adventure Center, Midstate Motors, and last but not least our volunteers.

Happy Trails!

Dr. John Mandrola writes the following in his blog – Dr. John M

“Sal Khan explains Heart Disease in ten minutes
Posted: 04 Jun 2011 04:25 PM PDT
More than a year ago, I wrote about the amazing educator, Sal Khan. His website, KhanAcademy, has become an educational behemoth. Using colorful and warmly narrated ten-minute YouTube videos, Sal explains–with breathtaking clarity–almost everything you might want or need to know.

He made me grin about re-learning how to do a derivative. He even personally answered an email I sent him on a vexing geometry proof. He tapped back on his iPhone that the proof was unsolvable because there were not enough givens. (That teacher no longer works at my son’s school.) I was so impressed that I clicked on his “donate” button. Now, the Khan Academy, has the backing of Bill and Melinda Gates.

He explains heart disease and heart attacks in just 10:46. How does Sal know all this? How is his explanation of heart disease so accurate? How?

(I realize that 10 min is an eternity on the internet, but for those interested in a solid foundation to understand heart disease, this would be a valuable ten minutes.)

Sal Khan defines heart disease

Each of the 57 million lessons that Sal has delivered were (and still are) free. Everything Sal teaches is free.

Education. Knowledge. For free.

This gives me hope.
JMM”

When Dean Mason began the Dead Dog Classic, a Wyoming bicycle stage race, he had no idea how close he would come to death, himself.  Fourteen miles outside of Laramie with no one nearby, Mason had a heat attack.  Two local nurses, who were providing additional medical support for the race in a support vehicle provided CPR and used an Automated External Defibrillator to revive Mason.  “I wouldn’t be here today if (they) didn’t have (their) act together.”  Mason was a fit cyclist when the heart attack hit, his work is now is in recovery and awareness of the cause.  Mason wasn’t remotely aware of the potential for heart attack.  The event was a wake up call and awareness, along with gratitude for the emergency staff that saved his life have grown.