This story is part of a bi-weekly series that celebrates people who are reaching across a divide to "build bridges" with those different from themselves. The Get Marty: Community Bridges series is made possible with the support of UPMC.
February is American Heart Month and normally we would simply be talking about warning signs and ways to keep your heart healthy but that was before the coronavirus pandemic.
This year there are new factors in play that may have a lot of people putting themselves in danger, while trying to stay safe.
That's one of the reasons for the important and serious conversation I had with Dr. Katie Berlacher. She is the Medical Director for UPMC Magee -Womens Heart Program.
You can watch the full interview in the video on this page.
In the past year, more patients have had heart attacks and strokes at home than before. The biggest reason for the increase is that people are fearful of going to the hospital because of COVID-19. Dr. Berlacher says that fear should not be a factor.
"The hospital is a really safe place now, and even more so in the past one to two months because most of our providers and employees have been vaccinated." - Dr. Katie Berlacher, UPMC
Just because they have been vaccinated doesn't mean they're relaxing any of the other precautions. She says, "we're taking all of the standardized precautions... all of us will still be wearing face masks will still be social distancing. We have frequent cleaning protocols."
Keeping that in mind, it's important to keep your doctors appointments and get your annual checkups. Prevention remains the key to heart and vascular health. The signs and symptoms are different for men and women and the teams at the UPMC Magee -Womens Heart Program understand them.
Resources:
• UPMC Magee-Womens Heart Program
• UPMC Heart and Vascular Institute
• UPMC Heart health articles, videos, and guides
The Get Marty: Community Bridges project is produced with the generous support of UPMC. Life Changing Medicine.
