Essentia Health Fargo opens new cardiometabolic clinic program

An Essentia Health clinic is focused on preventing heart disease.

FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) – An Essentia Health clinic is focused on preventing heart disease.

“Cardiovascular disease is a real big issue in the United States. It’s a very big cause for morbidity and mortality. Basically it can be a reason for people feeling good but also a reason people can feel bad,” Essentia Health Cardiologist Dr. Rory Farnan said.

February is Heart Health month and it provides a chance for cardiologists and other medical professionals to bring additional attention to heart disease.

The human heart can be affected in a good or bad way by lots of things. Healthy habits are important.

“Smoking, drinking, the other stuff you know that’s the bad stuff, and then the good stuff is exercise so our role is to encourage those things in our patients, to help them understand the relationship between some of those bad habits and heart disease,” Dr. Farnan said.

Essentia Health introduced a new cardiometabolic clinic program at the beginning of this year to better assist their patients.

“It is basically a clinic that addresses some of these things that can lead to cardiovascular disease, one big area being kind of build up of sludge in the pipes, in the coronary arteries and it’s a resource for patients, it’s also a resource for primary health providers out in the community who may have had difficulty, getting a person’s blood pressure under control or getting their cholesterol where it needs to be,” Dr. Farnan said.

There are symptoms to monitor like chest discomfort, shortness of breath, fast rhythms, dizziness, fainting and. falls. They can be caused from heart disease.

Medical officials urge you not to ignore these symptoms and go to the emergency room to address the issues.