Joey Wahler (Host): February is American Heart Month, so we're discussing heart health. Our guests, Curtis Patrick, Vice President of Hospital Operations and Cardiovascular Service Line at Mount Carmel Health System, and Nancy Tobbe, Executive Director of the American Heart Association. This is Wellness in Reach, a Mount Carmel podcast.

Thanks so much for joining us. I'm Joey Wahler. Hi there, Curtis, Nancy, welcome.

Curtis Patrick, MBA: Thanks for having us.

Nancy Tobbe: Thanks for having us.

Host: Absolutely. So first, can you describe your role within your organization and what would you say is the overall mission that you're working towards? How about you, Curtis?

Curtis Patrick, MBA: Yeah, thanks for asking, Joey. So I work with Mount Carmel Health System, which is one of the legacy healthcare providers here in Central Ohio. And my role is the Vice President at our tertiary care hospital, which is Mount Carmel East, and then supporting the cardiovascular service line, as you mentioned. I really am working to set the strategy, along with our key physicians and care providers, for how we meet the community's needs when it comes to heart and vascular care.

 I've been here with the organization for about 15 years, and I've never been prouder of where we're at in caring for Central Ohio.

Host: And how about you, Nancy?

Nancy Tobbe: I get to work for the American Heart Association, been with the organization for over 16 years. And my role is to really oversee the amazing team we have here in Central Ohio to bring to the community education and awareness programs around cardiovascular and brain health, raise the critical revenue to end our number one killer, as well as, provide community programs as and strategies to help build a healthier community.

Host: And when you say number one killer, you're referring to?

Nancy Tobbe: Cardiovascular disease is our number one killer.

Host: So that's really actually been the case for some time, hasn't it?

Nancy Tobbe: It really has. We are an over a hundred year organization and it's been the number one killer for over a hundred years since we've been tracking it. And just recently, the statistical update came out and now cardiovascular disease claims more deaths than the number two and number three killers combined, and that's cancer and automobile or accidents alone. So together cardiovascular disease is claiming more lives.

Host: So obviously still work to do in that regard. So how did this partnership between Mount Carmel and the AHA occur? And what would you say the key goals are that you're hoping to achieve together? How about you, Curtis?

Curtis Patrick, MBA: Well, the partnership certainly predates my involvement with the organization. I think it's been a long and a healthy and happy one. I think we definitely share some common goals. You know, Mount Carmel, we are committed to being a compassionate, transforming, healing presence in Central Ohio and the American Heart Association is trying to combat the number one killer.

You know, when we pair that up, what that looks like is the AHA as an active organization, raising awareness, improving education and outreach. That pairs up nicely with what we do at the healthcare system, which is to actually provide the interventional care that patients need once the disease kind of sets its place and sets its course.

It's just a natural partnership. We really enjoy working together and this is my third or fourth year partnering with Nancy.

Host: And so Nancy, how about from your perspective regarding the partnership between the two of you?

Nancy Tobbe: It also predates me as well, but it's just a natural fit for our organization to work with many health organizations and Mount Carmel's been one of those just standing up with us and really truly looking at how do we make an impact in the communities in which we serve and really, this is an effort that's going to take collaboration from. Mount Carmel is doing all of the work treating the patients, providing access to care, those programs and education really run through their organization. So it's been a wonderful and amazing partnership, but also it's one that we have, again, those similar goals to again provide the community with the best healthcare.

Host: And since we're talking largely here about awareness, how crucial is the role of community support and advocacy in enhancing heart health awareness and outcomes as a result, Curtis?

Curtis Patrick, MBA: It's paramount to success. Ideally, patients wouldn't even develop cardiovascular disease, right? So, that starts at childhood, and informed choices about diet and exercise, how can we come alongside schools, provide some of that education. The AHA has been a great such a force in that area. They've actually introduced various laws, in the state of Ohio that have helped us train high school students, for example, with hands on CPR and those types of things. All of that is just an extension of what a health care provider like Mount Carmel Health would do. So when you have education starting at a young age, that leads to a more informed patient, that knows what types of questions to ask, might listen to their healthcare provider a little bit more attentively, if something starts going wrong in the future, or maybe it's supporting a family member who's receiving care from one of our cardiologists.

If you've learned something about cardiovascular disease along the way, whether by one of our programs or one of Nancy's programs; maybe you can help mom, dad, aunt, uncle, grandma, grandpa, listen and be a better patient.

Host: And Nancy, how about you? I mean, the mere fact that as we talked about a moment ago, this affects so many people in our country, for no other reason than that, it's so crucial to have that community support, right?

Nancy Tobbe: You know, you talk about education and less than a half of Americans are aware that cardiovascular disease is their number one killer. And that to us is, you know, that number one education awareness are so critical. Much of cardiovascular disease and strokes are highly preventable with going to their doctor checkups.

And so I think that's so important to have community health partners. You know, it takes a village. It takes all of us collaborating together to be able to change policies, to change systems of care. And really that's what Mount Carmel does. They stand alongside us. They're treating the patients. They're helping provide them with those preventative measures that can really prevent them from having a heart or brain incident.

Many of the times our policies that we're changing across the city, the state, federally is all about, you know, what's happening in the health systems. As Curtis mentioned earlier, they want CPR in schools, but we've passed policies where every newborn has a pulse oximetry test, within their first 24 to 48 hours.

And that test alone, no matter where you're born in the state of Ohio, can help detect if they have a congenital heart defect and save them from leaving the hospital with it going undiagnosed. That's a policy. Stroke systems of care, that's a policy change across the state of Ohio. So all of these care systems are talking to each other and making sure that patient gets to the right place and gets the right treatment in enough time.

So all of that all comes together when you have collaborative partners in the community working towards the same goal.

Host: And Nancy, you bring up a great point when mentioning checking in infancy, right, because it reminds us, which some people also aren't aware of enough, I think, that heart issues can affect old and young alike from not just the oldest, but to the very youngest and everywhere in between. And even people that think that they're in good health, athletes, we've seen it strike down so many that never saw it coming. Right?

Nancy Tobbe: You know, it doesn't discriminate. Cardiovascular disease does not discriminate. It's our number one killer of new babies. It's the number one killer of new moms. It impacts anybody at any age, race, you know, and then you look at different ethnicities. There's higher prevalence in different areas of our community.

And so it doesn't discriminate. It impacts everyone. And I think that's where organizations such as Mount Carmel are so critical to be able to give that access to care in our community to all of our Central Ohioans.

Host: Curtis, from the hospital's perspective, why does this, or how does this collaboration with the AHA enable you to bring your message that's so crucial to another level when you're hooked up with an organization that's really the face of that message, right?

Curtis Patrick, MBA: Yeah, it's really pervasive to everything that we do. The American Heart Association is instrumental in working with cardiologists nationally, of course our cardiologists pay attention to those trends, but in developing clinical practice guidelines, they're very involved in that. They're an enormous source of data and research, and that's achieved in part by partnering with healthcare organizations like ourself.

They also have partnerships with the Ohio State University, and others in the state of Ohio. So this isn't just research that's done elsewhere and brought to Central Ohio. Some of it starts right here and then stays right here. And it ends up impacting care. The other reason that a partnership with an organization like the AHA is so impactful is it just our message and their message can often amplify one another.

And we're both trying to raise awareness. We're trying to raise funds. What it's all really about is just caring for the citizens in Columbus, Ohio and the surrounding communities and the more focus there is on just that general message, I think that the better health can be the future.

Host: And speaking of which, leads me beautifully into my next question. Curtis, you mentioned research. Give us some good news here on the research front in terms of heart health initiatives, what's new and effective that people can latch onto as they look ahead.

Curtis Patrick, MBA: You just said an area that I'm so passionate about. A buzzword that many, listeners may be familiar with is artificial intelligence or AI. It's really something that you're hearing all over the news in all different types of areas, but it's also something that is really catching fire in healthcare and of course, cardiovascular care.

And we can use AI to eliminate healthcare disparities and unconscious bias that might exist between providers and patients. For example, we know that cardiologists aren't quite as good at diagnosing cardiac arrhythmias in women, or non Caucasian patients. And so we can use AI to help us catch those trends in a patient's chart, when we check their cardiac devices, for example.

There are also ways that AI is helping us make better clinical decisions in the moment. If a patient comes in with a heart attack and they need to have one of their coronary arteries opened, in a precise way, we can get an extra clinical decision maker with that artificial intelligence that looks at all of the different procedures that have been performed, by a certain medical device vendor.

It's really an area that is going to transform cardiovascular care and cardiovascular health in the next decade.

Host: Wow. That's certainly great to hear. Couple other things, Nancy, the American Heart Association, of course, collaborates with many hospitals and healthcare providers, all over the place, but what would You say makes this particular partnership with Mount Carmel unique in some way?

Nancy Tobbe: You know, I think, we need everybody on the bus going in the same direction. But I think when we work with Mount Carmel, it is truly they're kind of, they're taking care of patients, they're utilizing guidelines, through the American Heart Association. I think the unique thing is we have the leadership engaged, they engage their patients in our mission, but, they engage their associates.

So I think it's that combination of the associates engaged with the mission, the guidelines, working with the guidelines program. And it's really, again, that leadership voice too, really talking about how together we can end cardiovascular disease. So it's kind of a lot of different areas coming together to really talk about the health of our community.

Host: And in summary here, how can our audience get involved in supporting the great work that Mount Carmel and the AHA are doing together surrounding heart health? Curtis, from your perspective, what's the best way for people to get active here?

Curtis Patrick, MBA: There's a couple of different ways and everyone has different means, whether that's interest, time, or other provisions. And so, if just giving time is the easiest way for you to come alongside and support; there are great community events like the Heart Walk, which is one near and dear to my heart.

I've been partnering with Central Ohio AHA on that for quite some time now, and we've raised millions of dollars over the last couple of years. But just showing up and walking, it's really a statement. When you show up and there's thousands of people walking in solidarity because they recognize this major health crisis that we're facing; it really inspires you to, whether it's to make some personal changes in your own heart health and your diet and your exercise routines, or do something great like donate to support the mission and the research that we've been talking about. Whether that's with the American Heart Association, or an organization like our Mount Carmel Foundation, which instituted and created the Women's Heart Clinic, as a result of local philanthropy.

So if you can give more than time and you can give dollars, both of these organizations are committed to improving the health and the lives of Central Ohio. And you really can't go wrong either way.

Host: Well, Nancy, Curtis loves the walking events. How about you? How would you suggest people best get involved?

Nancy Tobbe: Well, I think it's always, you know, they say, put on your mask first, make sure you check your numbers, go and make sure you're seeing a primary care physician to know what your numbers are, your blood pressure, your cholesterol, your glucose, you know, and get those resources to help be more physically active and eating healthy.

And then how do you get your family unit involved and then your community? I think the Heart Walk is a wonderful event. We're very proud of the relationship we have with Mount Carmel and the showing that they have at our Heart Walk. But, Heart Month is in February and education awareness is so important.

You can wear red on February 7th just to bring awareness and education that cardiovascular disease is our number one health risk. And, there's other initiatives as well. Our Go Red for Women initiative where, you know, you can get involved in the women's health area of our work as well as our Heart of Columbus that really talks about the research and the work we're doing in community health centers.

So there's a place for everyone. Heart.org is a great place to start, but we're just very grateful for the overall relationship and the engagement year round. We kind of say Heart 365 with everyone at Mount Carmel.

Host: Very well said, indeed. Well, folks, we trust you're now more familiar with heart health. Curtis, Nancy, keep up your great work. Good luck during Heart Month and thanks so much again.

Nancy Tobbe: Thank you.

Curtis Patrick, MBA: Thanks for the conversation.

Host: And for more information, please visit mountcarmelhealth.com/heartmonth. To learn more about your heart risk, you can also visit heart.org. If you found this podcast helpful, please do share it on your social media. And thanks again for being part of Wellness in Reach, a Mount Carmel podcast.