Greenwood Leflore Hospital will host a series of screenings next month to alert people to potential heart problems.
SafeHeart Health Screens, a Mississippi-based company, will offer five health screens on June 28 for $129. The service will be free for Medicaid patients.
Screenings will be done from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
In a prepared statement released by SafeHeart, Dr. Gregory Vickers, medical director for SafeHeart in Mississippi, explained the importance of the screens.
“By offering these CVD (cardiovasuclar disease) screens, we are arming individuals in our community with the ability to control their vascular health before it controls them,” Vickers said. “The screens will help an individual recognize potential health problems and obtain treatment before they become life-threatening.”
SafeHeart sent representatives to the Leflore Health Center health fair in January. According to Kim Rutland, corporate sales representative for SafeHeart, more than 40 percent of the screens done in Greenwood that day returned abnormal results.
“Generally we see about 20 percent abnormal when we do screens,” Rutland said. “Greenwood is right in the middle of the stroke belt, and anyone with a family history of heart disease needs to be checked.”
A special state-funded program is temporarily providing Medicaid patients the opportunity to be screened free. The program provided enough funds to screen about 2,500 people. The funds must be used by Dec. 31.
“Anyone with full Medicaid benefits is covered for this program,” she said. “Even if not covered by Medicaid, $129 is a small price for the five screens and a professional interpretation.”
Rutland said similar screens from a hospital would typically cost between $600 and $1,000.
At the Leflore County Health Fair, many of the patients who visited said they had never had any such tests before.
Rutland said you don’t have to wait until you’re older to be screened.
“All of the literature says above 40, you should have at least a baseline screen,” Rutland said. “But if one of your parents had a stroke before they were 40, or you have high cholesterol, you should be screened early.”
To make an appointment or obtain more information, call: 1-866-548-3006 or (601) 450-5483.
