Latest / 20-Minute Health Talk / 20MHT BONUS w/ Sandra Lindsay: What women need to know about heart disease

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20MHT BONUS w/ Sandra Lindsay: What women need to know about heart disease · 20-Minute Health Talk

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  Rob Hoell: Hello and welcome to 20-Minute Health Talk.
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  Today we are launching a new series hosted by Sandra Lindsay.
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  This bonus
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  episode of 20-Minute Health Talk will continue the conversation with fresh
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  voices and perspectives.
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  This is a new and exciting chapter for this podcast.
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  As we welcome Sandra Lindsay to our team, the Frontline nurse and
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  Presidential medal of freedom
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  recipient spent 29 years in nursing most recently, serving, as
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  director of Critical Care Nursing at a Long Island Jewish Medical
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  Center in New Hyde Park.
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  Like so many nurses, she worked tirelessly during the pandemic, then
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  Sandra volunteered to become the first American vaccinated with the
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  Pfizer and BioNTech covid-19 vaccine on December 14 2020.
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  She currently serves as vice president of public health advocacy for
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  northwell health and joins us now. Sandra first of all, welcome to the
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  podcast.
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  Sandra Lindsay: Thanks, Rob for that
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  warm welcome.
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  It's exciting to start this next chapter of my career with you and the
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  team and I'm so excited to be a part of this podcast.
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  Rob: We've known each other for years before Covid outbreak and it's just
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  so great to work
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  with you,
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  it's been great working with you in the past,
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  and I just can't wait to see what you bring to the podcast.
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  Sandra: That's right, you came over to Long Island.
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  Jewish Medical Center after the first wave and helped us to really,
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  you know, show the power of team nursing as we could not have gotten
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  through that first wave without a team nursing approach.
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  Rob: And it was so I was so proud to be in the room when you got that first
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  shot seen around the world and really, you know, helped us in our
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  fight against Covid and
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  kind of hopefully bring an end to it.
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  Sandra: Thanks Rob picking up on your conversation last week.
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  You spoke with a panel of experts about how to pick a cardiologist or
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  cardiac surgeon.
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  Rob: What is the age that people start
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  seeing these types of problems and when should people start thinking
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  about these types of things, Dr.
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  Singh?
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  Dr. Singh: You know, I've seen patients, some sure you guys have seen patients in
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  their late 20s that present with heart attacks, and that are very,
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  very sick but in general above the age of 35, if you have risk
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  factors, that's when cardiovascular disease really becomes the number
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  one killer of men and women.
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  Sandra: One of the considerations that really stuck out to me was the role
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  gender plays when picking a cardiologist.
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  This is such an important topic. For decades,
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  the working assumption has been that, aside from conditions specific
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  to women, men's and women's bodies show symptoms and react to
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  treatment in the same way.
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  We now know that is simply not true, particularly
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  when it comes to heart disease. I met up with Dr.
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  Jean Cacciabaudo, medical director at Huntington Hospital, and a
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  renowned cardiologist, to ask her, what are the differences between men
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  and women as it relates to heart disease?
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  What our health systems doing to address disparities in care.
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  And what women seek in a cardiologist should know
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  All right.
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  Hello Dr.
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  Cacciabaudo, it's such a pleasure being here with you today at
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  Huntington Hospital.
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  I'm so excited to be speaking with you about women's heart health and
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  how to choose a cardiologist.
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  Dr. Cacciabaudo: Thank you so much for inviting me to spend some time with you.
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  Sandra: Despite increase in awareness over the past decades, only about half
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  of women
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  recognize
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  that heart disease is their number one killer. Another survey showed
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  that only one in five African-American woman believe that they are at
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  high risk of heart disease.
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  Do you think that women still see cardiac disease as a man's disease?
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  Dr. Cacciabaudo: I do and I think the medical community, to a certain degree,
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  feels the same way. The Framingham heart study, which was started and
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  the first round of data came out in the 1960s, really did make it
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  about a man's problem.
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  The early studies that are a precursor to what we just mentioned, by
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  the CDC, one in five women,
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  all women didn't even recognize that heart disease was a health threat
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  and so organizations, like the American Heart Association started, the
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  Go Red For Women movement and I thank you for wearing red to honor
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  that. That was a 20-year journey to today,
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  we're finally seeing women recognize their risk and actually showing
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  the value of preventive strategies.
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  Sandra: And this is a great segue into my next question.
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  So Dr. C,
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  tell me about the difference between males and females as it relates
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  to heart disease.
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  Dr. Cacciabaudo: So it starts with the way heart attacks happen and that starts with
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  plaque build-up which actually starts building up when you're in your
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  teens and then over time depending on your risk factors and your diet
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  and cholesterol and exercise, the plaque
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  can become increased and cause blockages men's blockages tend to
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  load and rupture open.
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  We call that plaque rupture. Women's tend to erode where the top of
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  the plaque just starts wearing away.
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  It does probably account for the symptom differences as well.
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  So the classic symptoms of heart disease is chest pain, like pressure
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  on your chest, arm pain,
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  usually we say going down your left arm up into your jaw, sometimes
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  into your back.
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  So these are the classic symptoms, men typically have them and
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  honestly, most women do too, but then there are the atypical symptoms
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  which are more subtle.
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  It is shortness of breath or feeling easily, tired, heartburn or even
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  headaches.
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  I always tell my patients that despite your, you know, classic
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  symptoms or the more atypical symptoms usually associated with that
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  is an inner voice
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  inside your body.
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  That's saying you've never had this before.
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  Like this is, this is different than anything you've ever had.
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  You know, you should go get it checked out and you have to listen to
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  that voice.
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  The next question, then is who you going to call and that's your
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  trusted partner in health and hopefully everyone has one.
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  Sandra: So, where should women look for a cardiologist, and should the gender
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  of the practitioner play a role in their decision?
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  That is, I'm going to start with the second question,
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  because it's really timely.
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  So, the American College of Cardiology just this past, March published
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  an article where they looked at the outcomes.
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  So how well blood pressure's controlled? How well cholesterol levels are
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  lowered?
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  How less frequently symptoms, go on to be a heart attack?
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  So women, when they take
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  women cardiologists, taking care of women patients, do a better job
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  than men, taking care of women.
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  But to go to the first part of that question, you know, where to look
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  here at North Well,
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  we have this great service, it's called the North Well
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  Find a Doc and you can Google a name or a Google a ZIP code, or a
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  city and then say specialty and you can find your
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  Northwell Health Physician partner doctors who all have star ratings based
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  on the thoughts and opinions of patients, like real patients
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  and your comments are there.
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  And then even our other Physicians that are volunteers here in the
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  health system are on that site, too.
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  So it's a great resource to help you pick your your partner because
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  that's really what it is.
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  Sandra: Absolutely.
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  So, I'd like to follow up with another question.
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  African-American women are disproportionately affected by heart
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  disease, leading the debt rate regardless of age, what are some
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  suggestions for addressing equity in care?
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  Dr. Cacciabaudo: So, it starts with knowing that statistic, which really is a call to
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  action.
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  And so it is, I think for women,
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  us, as, you know, kind of the women in the know, to get out and
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  spread the word, Empower with education and knowledge, and go into
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  spaces, which may be a little, you know, a-typical like
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  partnering with church groups. So finding, you know, black women
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  African-American women,
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  where they're most comfortable as opposed to you know the more traditional
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  spaces like a lecture hall or a luncheon.
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  It is about knowledge and empowering with the education.
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  Sandra: So it's going where they go to keep them in the know.
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  Dr. Cacciabaudo: Exactly.
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  Given the differences Dr. C, in men and women, what can Health
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  Systems do to help tailor treatment for women?
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  So this really is the Nexus of the Katz Institute for Women's
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  Health because it's about education and empowering women, but it's
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  also about understanding the sex differences.
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  So, you know, women have two X chromosomes men, have an X and a Y
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  chromosome, and that results in cells that are different.
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  And so, how do we understand those differences?
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  How do we modulate, those differences?
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  How do we impact with different medications?
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  And, and so, I feel as a health system, Northwell Health has taken
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  this responsibility
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  seriously. We have the Katz Institute, we have Physicians who are
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  credentialed to be members, you know?
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  There's a process to say you're a Katz Physician, you have to apply,
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  you have to
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  be vetted by a committee, and you have to be committed to research,
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  education, empowerment for Women's Health.
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  So I think Northwell's on the right path.
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  Not only are we on the right path.
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  I think we're leading the path.
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  We're showing other organizations how to walk the talk.
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  And, you know, I think many
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  organizations
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  look to us.
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  Sandra: Awesome Dr. C
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  it's been a pleasure speaking with you today and I have to say the
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  field of Cardiology is really lucky to have someone like you to you
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  know, influence young ladies and create this social contagion that we
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  need to get more women into the stem fields and into research, really
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  a pleasure speaking to you today.
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  Dr. Cacciabaudo: Thank you so much.
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  I am equally honored to be here.
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  Get more expert Insight from the leading voices in healthcare today.
• 12:37
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