HEART SCREENINGS SAVE LIVES BY SANFORD HEALTH
D
orothy Vershure was having a busy day in May. She and her husband, Claude, had just moved, and she had gone downtown to be sure their water bill was correct before she headed out of town to visit grandkids. When she saw Sanford Health’s mobile heart and vascular screening unit parked nearby, she paused. Curious, she inquired what the heart screening all entailed. A heart screening, Dorothy learned, involves a brief CT scan, which measures the calcium that has built up on artery walls, posing a higher risk of heart attack or stroke; EKG to check the heart’s electrical activity; body mass index determination; and
50 mind-body-spirit |
HEALTH & WELL-BEING
measurements of blood pressure and nonfasting cholesterol. Dorothy had had all of the tests done elsewhere except a CT scan of her heart. So, despite her haste to get on the road, she decided to take the 15 or so minutes to go through the screening. Dorothy’s results turned out fine. Then she called her husband and suggested he come to get screened as well. Actually, she challenged him: “Why don’t you see if you could do better than me?” The Vershures believe that his response to that challenge ended up saving his life. Claude thought his health was fine, despite a hereditary high blood pressure condition. That day, though, he learned differently.
