Heart Screenings Save Lives

BY SANFORD HEALTH

Dorothy 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

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.

“I would tell them it’s the best thing that ever happened,” Claude said. “I could say it means that my life was saved.”

Claude’s heart screening revealed a concerning EKG, along with a cardiac calcium score more than 14 times the number that typically would trigger treatment.

Claude’s test results were dire enough to suggest seeing a cardiologist as soon as possible. He chose to go to Sanford Heart Hospital.

After he arrived, the doctor determined that his coronary arteries were too blocked for angioplasty or a stent. So Claude spent more than three hours in surgery, undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting.

Bypass surgery involves taking blood vessels from elsewhere in the body — perhaps arm, chest or leg — and connecting them to blood vessels above and below the affected artery or arteries.

Both Vershures have some experience with the medical field. Dorothy is a retired pharmacist, and Claude is a retired nurse.

Despite the seriousness of Claude’s surgery, neither one felt anxious about it. “We knew it was going to go well, and we knew it needed to be happening,” Dorothy said. “And I think that was just because of (the) staff there. We felt so comfortable.” Recovery that included cardiac rehab went well for Claude. He’s finding he has more energy than he used to.

Sanford Health’s mobile heart screening, the only truck in the region, gives people early intervention and education across South Dakota and into Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska. The semi is on the road every weekday, heading to small town streets, county fairs and the South Dakota State Fair, clinics, hospitals, Indian Health Service units, Hutterite colonies and even local businesses.

Both Claude and Dorothy have become advocates of heart screenings, encouraging friends and family to have it done.

“I would tell them it’s the best thing that ever happened,” Claude said.

“I could say it means that my life was saved,” he added. Women make the majority of health care decisions in a family, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. “As women, we need to take seriously our roles as patient health advocates, whether for our spouse, relatives or friends. We can make a difference, even if we have to stand up to a stubborn person that is dear to us,” Dorothy said.