One medical doctor at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center takes American Heart Month personally.
During a recent panel discussion at the Westwood Center, Dr. David Wood, a primary care physician at PBRMC, shared a personal experience about his then 5-year-old son and how the fast response of doctors at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center saved his life.
“About two years ago, my son was sitting at home, and he started to complain that his heart was racing. I listened to him and I couldn’t get an accurate pulse,” Wood said. “We ended up getting an EKG and his pulse was at 260- 280 (beats per minute).”
Wood said he called one of the doctors at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center.
“We met him at the ER and he got us all taken care of,” he said. “Dr. Joe ended up pushing some medicine called adenosine, and restarting his heart; getting him taken care of. He diagnosed exactly what he had. We ended up going to Children’s Hospital ... at Washington University where he had a special ablation for it. I just have to say he is doing great.”
In recognition of American Heart Month, Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center hosted an all-day event Feb. 18 which included a proclamation by Mayor Steve Davis declaring it Heart Awareness Day.
It was part of a month-long effort to spread awareness about how important it is to recognize the signs and symptoms of heart disease.
A panel of six specialists kicked off the afternoon with an in-depth discussion about ways to take care of your heart, and heart-care services.
In a roundtable-style discussion, experts answered questions from the audience.
One attendee questioned the panel asking at what age children should begin to get preventative testing.
“At what age should (children) start getting EKGs, especially when they are playing sports because a lot of them are dying on the field with undiagnosed conditions,” she asked.
Wood said he was aware of the condition.
“It’s called hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy,” he said. “These kids are the ones that go out and play sports, then, oh my goodness, they collapse.”
Children should have sports physicals and see their physicians every year, Wood said.
Wood said also EKGs typically are not done as part of the school physical.
“We try to look at the history and look at the family history. Unfortunately, with HCM, that tends to run within families,” he said, noting that if a child does have a family history of the condition, physicians keep an eye on that issue.
Cardiologist Dr. Roland Njoh chimed in to explain a few things about heart attacks.
“If you were to watch Grey’s Anatomy or any of those shows, they give you the classic symptoms correct ...,” he said. “...Pain in the chest, in the arms, the sweating, holding the chest. Mostly what happens, especially for women, it’s not that.”
Njoh said those symptoms are less obvious.
“Some people may feel very tired. Some people feel nauseous. Some people just feel off,” he said, warning those experiencing those symptoms to seek help immediately. “If you have unusual symptoms, don’t wait too long to find out because it may be too late.”
Other topics of discussion included ways the hospital is handling heart patients amid the complications presented by the pandemic.
“When you come into the emergency room, unfortunately we have been plagued with the pandemic and every day is a new game for everybody in every aspect of health care...,” Emergency Room Manager Seth Deck said. “We try every day to keep a watch on everything and the resources we have, and we try to change our flow and our staffing operations every day to account for the challenges we might run into with this pandemic.”
Staff members want to know immediately if an individual has come into the emergency room with chest pain, Deck said.
“When you walk in, you will be presented and greeted by a registered nurse at that front desk,” he said. “We do have a clinical licensed staff member that stays out there because we want somebody who can recognize the signs and symptoms for any type of critical diagnosis.”
An EKG would come next.
Deck said if the EKG readings indicate a patient is having an acute cardiac event, the patient gets placed immediately for treatment and will have a team going to work.
“It’s literally going to look like a pit crew from NASCAR, there are going to be people all around your bed doing 20 things at once, “ he said.
Deck said as soon as the patient is prepped they get transported to the cath lab.
“It’s a very fast-paced thing,” he said.
Deck said if the patient is not having an acute event, triage will continue and the patient will be treated by a physician or other advanced medical professional.
Nicole Neidenberg, director of marketing and public relations at PBRMC, said the hospital served over 5,000 patients in the hospital’s cath lab.
“The main message is care close to home, and we are very passionate about our hospital,” she said. “We have four cardiologists and a whole slew of other team members who are very collaborative.”