Now’s The Time to Get Heart Healthy. Intermountain Dixie Regional Offers Free Seminar on Feb. 26 to Help Residents Enhance Heart Health

In honor of National Heart Health Awareness Month, Intermountain Dixie Regional Medical Center is hosting a free heart health education seminar on Wednesday, February 26 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

The public is invited to the Intermountain SelectHealth Auditorium, 1424 E. Foremaster Drive, to learn from Intermountain heart experts. Topics include how you can keep your heart healthy and reduce your risk of developing heart disease, the leading killer of  both men and women.

Anyone may be at risk for developing heart disease, but people can take steps to reduce their risk by maintaining healthy habits, knowing their numbers (blood pressure, glucose and body weight), and learning more about heart health.

“With February being National Heart Health Month,” said Arne Olsen, MD, a vascular surgeon at Intermountain Dixie Regional Medical Center. “This seminar will give our community a chance to learn from some of our cardiovascular experts at Dixie Regional, and discover ways to improve heart health and live the healthiest life possible.”

Dr. Olsen will speak on new and advanced techniques in vascular surgery available at Dixie Regional. Vascular surgery works with the blood vessels outside of the heart to help treat vascular diseases. Dr. Olsen works in conjunction with cardiologists and cardiac surgeons to help keep the heart and all the blood vessels healthy.

This year, Dixie Regional’s structural heart program director, Blake Gardner, MD, will speak about a new, minimally invasive heart procedure at Dixie Regional called the left atrial appendage closure (LAAC). This procedure will help patients who are at risk for stroke and cannot take long-term blood thinners.

“The structural heart world is growing, and we need to be able to offer this procedure to the community,” said Dr. Gardner. “Not everyone will qualify, but it can still help a large portion of our local population.”

Tom Burkart, MD, who specializes in electrophysiology at Dixie Regional, will speak about electrophysiology procedures and atrial fibrillation. “The last 30 years have seen rapid advancements in the diagnosis, risk assessment and treatment of cardiac arrhythmias (abnormal heart rhythms),” said Dr. Burkhart. “New ablation technology creates a precise mapping of the heart to identify the origin of the arrhythmia by using targeted radio frequency energy therapy or freezing technology to treat the cause as opposed to long-term drug therapy.”

The event will also start with a special unveiling of artwork created by Utah artists for the Go Red with heART Tour coordinated by Intermountain and the American Heart Association.

Each original artwork represents the theme of woman and heart disease. This tour started at Intermountain Medical Center and has toured multiple Intermountain hospitals across Utah since January 14. Dixie Regional Medical Center is the final stop of these art pieces, which will be on display in the hospital until March 4.

For more information about the Heart Health Seminar or the Go Red with heART Tour, call 435-251-2159.