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Heart Disease Prevention
More Americans die from cardiovascular disease than from all forms of cancer combined. Yet unlike cancer, cardiovascular disease tends not to appear suddenly. Many of its risk factors can be monitored and controlled as they occur over time. This gives you the opportunity to reverse their impact, reducing your risk of serious problems later on, in many cases by 30 to 40 percent.
The Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Program at New Milford Hospital
For cardiovascular disease, the most common risk factors include:
- high cholesterol
- high blood pressure
- lack of exercise
- cigarette smoking
- excess weight
- diabetes
- family history
Because these factors often appear in combination, and to different degrees for each person, there's no single solution. That is why the Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Program takes a personalized and multidisciplinary approach.
A multidisciplinary team
Your treatment will involve a dietitian, a cardiac exercise specialist, a nurse, a pharmacist, a behavioral counselor and, if necessary, a smoking cessation counselor. The work of these specialists is coordinated by a physician widely recognized for his expertise in heart and vascular disease prevention. Your primary care physician will remain involved throughout the treatment process. This team approach has produced significant results in reducing risk by lowering blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar and body weight.
A personalized treatment program
For most people, the program requires two or three visits to the hospital. The first visit involves evaluation of risk factors, then at the visit's conclusion, the staff will create a program personalized for your needs. In may include a changes in diet, exercise, stress reduction, weight loss, smoking cessation and medications for lowering cholesterol, blood pressure and/or blood sugar. One or two additional visits will monitor your progress. After that your program will be managed by your primary care physician.
How to get started
You can register yourself for the program or be referred by your primary care physician or other doctor. You may wish to ask your doctor about a referral as it may affect insurance coverage. Most insurance companies will cover the program's cost as long as another treating physician refers the patient. We recommend that you check with your insurance provider before making an appointment. Self-pay costs are available on request.
Cardiovascular disease is a serious threat, but its risks can be managed, and we're here to help you do it. For more information about the Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Program at the New Milford Hospital Regional Heart Center, please call 860-210-5092.
Joseph Frolkis, MD, PhD, FACP, FAHA, is president and CEO of New Milford Hospital and directs the cardiovascular disease prevention program of the New Milford Hospital Regional Heart Center. He has been repeatedly recognized among the Best Doctors in America - by his peers in Cleveland and by selectors in Ohio and nationwide. At University Hospitals of Cleveland, he was director of the Center for Cardiovascular Disease Reduction and chief of the division of general internal medicine, geriatrics and health care research. He was also an associate professor of medicine, epidemiology and biostatistics at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and before joining University Hospitals, was affiliated with the Cleveland Clinic. He is a well-regarded authority on preventive cardiology, is a member of the American Heart Association's Council on Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology and the author of numerous articles in the medical literature, including published studies in the New England Journal of Medicine, the American Journal of Medicine, and the American Journal of Cardiology. His clinical trials in cardiovascular treatment have been sponsored by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, Merck & Co., Parke-Davis, Novartis and Pfizer, among others.
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