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SEBRING, Fla. — In the past, ABC Action News has reported on the difficulty in accessing and delivering health care services in some rural counties in Florida. Healthcare providers in these areas are under pressure to offer innovative ways to serve communities without nearby hospitals or clinics.

A local hospital in rural Highlands County has come up with an ingenious way to promote heart health at home.

“I am the youth and young adult pastor of Avon Park Seventh-day Adventist Church,” said Pastor Rodney McFadden. Last year, during a routine dental checkup, we noticed that his blood pressure was extremely high. “So they didn’t proceed with the procedure they wanted.”

The next day, Pastor McFadden went to Advent Health in Sebring to see a doctor. “She was very alarmed and she said, ‘Listen, I can’t send you home today,'” Pastor McFadden said.

What he discovers next will shock him.

“They said it was a miracle that my blood pressure was that high that I got out of there without having a heart attack or something,” said Pastor McFadden. Just 43 years old, he was on the brink of death and emergency treatment revealed a 96% blockage in the blood pumping to his heart.

“We’ve known for some time that heart disease is the world’s number one killer,” said Dr. Deepti Bhandare of AdventHealth Sebring. Dr. VanDer was Rev. McFadden’s cardiologist.

“I think the biggest problem is poor diet and lack of exercise,” Dr. Vandeer says. “So it’s like a vicious cycle. Your bad diet leads to high blood pressure, and high blood pressure leads to heart disease.”

Advent Health plans to make heart health more accessible for patients with heart disease through a program that distributes free kits that allow people to monitor their health at home. The kit includes a digital scale, body fluid measurement device, blood pressure monitor, pill organizer, and pulse oximeter.

The program, which started last year, is run by doctors-in-training. These kits allow patients to communicate important heart health information to their doctors.

So far, they have distributed more than 50 heart health kits, which they say have reduced readmissions for heart failure by 8%. “We’re going to continue this work, at least for the time being, because we believe more lives should be touched and hopefully more hearts healed,” said Dr. Chad Brands of AdventHealth Sebring. Because I think so.”

Click here to learn more about heart health.



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