Do you know why women should have heart screenings?

Visit Deanna Carlson, R.N., BSN, on the web at St. Joseph Hospital Women’s Heart Center in Orange, CA

Deanna Carlson: Woman should have a heart screening because I think it just brings it home to her. She has got 50 minutes with me to talk about her (heart). I am going to be asking her questions about her heart, about her personal medical history.

We are going to talk about when the last time she has had her cholesterol taken and I am going to explain to her why that’s so important that the body does produce cholesterol but how much are you putting inside of your body from what you’re eating. Then also, all the other traits that go with it as well, like the family history again, is there high blood pressure, when is the last time she has taken her blood pressure, when is the last time she has had an electrocardiogram to see her heart rate, when is the last time she took her heart rate?

Does she understand how exercise affects her body? Does she understand the type of foods that affect her body? It’s just not for heart, they’re all going together and that’s the message that we need to get out there to women.

Okay, when it counts overweight, what can we do to closer to 10 pounds? That extra 20 pounds or that extra 10 pounds can make a big difference to your cholesterol levels and your blood pressure levels and it puts way too much stress on your heart that can elevate your glucose level.

So that’s why we need to bring all this information home to these women and talk about it. So I love it, love if they come and see me so we can have a dialogue.