It was a beautiful Friday in September, and Shelly Emrick was in her element, volunteering at a community service event. As the crowd grew, a fellow volunteer asked her to sign up for a carotid artery screening. The St. Elizabeth Healthcare CardioVascular Mobile Health Unit was parked nearby, waiting for its first “customer,” she explained. “Just get the ball rolling,” …
David, a Kentucky-born Permanent Deacon now living in Ohio, spent decades battling a smoking addiction that controlled his life. Starting in college, his habit grew to two packs a day. It left him breathless, coughing constantly and worried about his health. When a low-dose CT scan at St. Elizabeth showed lung abnormalities and loved ones encouraged him to quit, David …
Nourish Your Body and Mind Through Journaling What you eat impacts the way your body functions and plays a big role in your overall health. Making better food choices helps build a stronger immune system, improves digestion, boosts energy levels and reduces your risk of developing many serious health conditions, including heart disease. Ever wonder how keeping track of the …
Cardiac Surgery Team Delivers Life-Changing Results When it comes to heart health, expertise matters. At St. Elizabeth, a nationally recognized leader in cardiac surgery, patients and families find unparalleled care, close to home. Through cutting-edge techniques, specialized teams and a commitment to patient-centered care, St. Elizabeth is transforming lives across the region. In recent years, St. Elizabeth has built a …
The advice is straightforward: Stop smoking and work with your healthcare provider to protect your heart. Kentucky has the second-highest smoking rate in the nation, explains Joyce Jacobs, a Nurse Navigator at the Florence Wormald Heart & Vascular Institute at St. Elizabeth. According to the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), more than 17% of Kentucky adults smoke, and more …
5 Things in Your Body That Heal Slower Than You Think (And How Totally Endoscopic Cardiac Surgery [TECS] Avoids One of Them) We often assume the human body is a rapid self-repair machine. Cut your finger, it heals in a week. Break a bone, it’s fixed in a couple of months. While our biology is miraculous, some tissues and components …
There’s a lot of advice out there on how to live a healthier, longer life – but actually accomplishing that can feel out-of-reach for some people. The American Heart Association provides a realistic science-based foundation to help people achieve success. Their formula focuses on five lifestyle behaviors and three health factors that make up eight key components for better cardiovascular …
If you’ve been looking for ways to improve your heart health — and especially if you have blood pressure problems — you may have heard of the DASH diet. Dr. Sudha Jaganathan, a Cardiologist at the Florence Wormald Heart & Vascular Institute at St. Elizabeth, explains the health benefits behind this diet. What is the DASH Diet? DASH stands for “Dietary …
Sodium is a naturally occurring mineral found in salt. And while sodium is essential for several functions in our body, most of us eat too much of it on a regular basis. Dr. Sudha Jaganathan, a Cardiologist specializing in heart failure at the Florence Wormald Heart and Vascular Institute at St. Elizabeth, explains how excess sodium affects our bodies and …
Women and Stroke: The Facts Are Alarming According to the Centers for Disease Control, one in five women in the United States will have a stroke in her lifetime. Nearly 50 percent of first-time strokes occur in women and 60 percent of stroke deaths are in women. Stroke kills twice as many women as breast cancer and is the third …


