An actress and a county exec recognize American Heart Month

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Adorned in red, Emmy-winning actress Susan Lucci, a Garden City resident, stood beside Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman and Dr. Richard Schlofmitz, the chairman of cardiology at Catholic Health St. Francis Hospital and Heart Center, at the Nassau County Legislative and Executive Building on Feb. 17 to remind residents that February is American Heart Month.

“What I have learned, since being the national ambassador for the American Heart Association ‘Go Red for Women’ movement,” Lucci said, “is that heart disease is the number one killer of women more than all cancers put together. It kills one in three women [who die] every year. It kills one woman every 80 seconds.”

Blakeman announced that the dome of the county legislative building would be lit red to symbolize the importance of heart health.

“Heart disease is the leading killer in Nassau County,” he said, “and while that is alarming, according to the state, we have one of the lowest percentages by population … of deaths from heart disease. However, that’s no reason to be complacent.”

Like many women — and men — Lucci ignored symptoms of possible heart problems until she had to be rushed to the emergency room at St. Francis Hospital and Heart Center in Rosyln in 2018, where Schlofmitz was her doctor. He found arteries blockages, and she had to have surgery to have stents implanted.

“Many people, when they have problems with their heart, keep it to themselves,” Schlofmitz said, “and Susan was brave enough to come out and talk about her history and symptoms, not once but twice. If anybody has symptoms, see your doctor. Get checked out.”

Dr. Guy Mintz, director of cardiovascular health and lipidology at North Shore University Hospital, has made it his career to address the initial risk factors of heart disease before there are symptoms. He said that high blood pressure and cholesterol, diabetes, smoking, sleep apnea, autoimmune and chronic kidney diseases, and family history are contributing factors.

“It’s not all about the symptoms,” Mintz said. “It’s all about the prevention. We’re not waiting for someone to have a heart attack. We’re not waiting for someone to have symptoms … to develop coronary artery disease. We’re not waiting to limit those risk factors and intervene early.”

Medical practitioners have to consider a patient’s complete medical history to determine how to proceed, Mintz said — for instance, whether he or she should be referred to a nutritionist. He recommended that people know their blood pressure and cholesterol numbers and their hemoglobin A1C blood sugar levels.

“Many patients need to be guided into the right direction,” Mintz said. “Few patients are self-starters to say, all right, I’m going to start this, or I want to know what my cholesterol levels are or know what my risk profile involves.”

The coronavirus pandemic has added another layer of cardiac risks, thanks to shutdowns and the upending of normal lifestyles as people have stayed home, Mintz said. We have been more sedentary, turned to “reactive eating” and are more stressed. And a lack of access to medical care has impeded early prevention of heart problems.

“There has actually been an increase in heart disease where people have been having heart attacks during the pandemic because they have not been seeing their doctors,” he said.
Public awareness and education in heart health can save someone a visit to the emergency room. But even people who have been able to maintain a proper diet and exercise, like Lucci, are susceptible.

“Even if you’re living well, there are other risk factors and genetic predispositions that cause people to be at high risk for heart disease,” Mintz said. “For example, women have unique risk factors for early heart disease such as pregnancy, induced hypertension, early menopause and polycystic ovary disease.”

Although a change in lifestyle — exercising more, changing your diet, quitting smoking — are positive steps to help preventing heart disease, Mintz advised visiting a doctor at least once a year for guidance and direction on treatment. “The doctor needs to be the quarterback,” he said.

Last year, Lucci underwent a second procedure after she recognized troubling symptoms. “You need to be diligent and keep working on this your whole life,” Schlofmitz said.