Ottumwa Regional Employees wear red to bring awareness to heart disease
February 10, 2025
By Randall Gimm
OTTUMWA, Iowa (KYOU) - Ottumwa Regional Employees wore red to bring awareness to Women’s Heart Health.
Alex Eickelschulte, who works with patients with heart issues, says women’s symptoms of cardiovascular disease aren’t what you would imagine.
Eickelschulte said, “Women have a higher mortality rate just due to the fact that we present differently. It is not the heart-clutching chest pain that you see in the movies or what you see with men."
The American Heart Association says cardiovascular disease kills more women than all forms of cancer combined. Eickelschulte says it can affect someone at almost any age.
“Women like 20 on have uh a cardiovascular event or cardiovascular disease that we are unaware of,” Eickelschulte explained.
CEO of Ottumwa Regional, William Kiefer says they have invested more than 4 million dollars into their Cath lab for interventional heart care.
Currently, there is not a dedicated Cath lab physician, but Kiefer says they are weeks away from appointing one.
Because Director of the Cath Lab, Lisa Garrison says it’s something Southeast Iowa Needs.
Garrison said, “People with Diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease compared to other counties in the state, we (Wapello County) rank really high in that.”
Garrison says this is something to look at immediately, not later.
Garrison said people put it off by saying, “So hey, like I’ll put it off to tomorrow, or the next day, I’m going to do this today or I’m taking care of the kids today. Then what ends up being a day, could be a week, could be a year and we haven’t taken care of it.”
Eickelschulte echoed this by saying, “We’d much rather see you as an outpatient and getting everything taken care of before it becomes an emergency.”