What expertise is available in Orange County?
Utilizing the most advanced technology and research, MemorialCare Heart & Vascular Institute at Orange Coast Memorial and Saddleback Memorial offers innovative heart and vascular treatments. These include open heart surgery, angioplasty, stenting and device implantation such as internal defibrillators and pacemakers. In addition, heart and vascular care includes catheter ablations, rehabilitation and centers for women’s cardiac health and research.
We are among a few designated cardiac paramedic receiving centers in Orange County with emergency treatment times that beat the national average. Orange Coast Memorial’s Hybrid Cardiovascular Interventional Suite — the first in the county and one of only a few in the U.S. — is designed for open heart surgery and interventional procedures, or possibly a combination of both in one suite.
Saddleback Memorial is a pioneer in beating heart surgery, a way to perform surgery without stopping the heart, which can result in better preservation of heart function, reduced hospital stay and quicker recovery.
How can we help create a healthy workplace?
A healthy lifestyle is your best defense against a number of diseases. The workplace is a source of many roadblocks to better health. Start with small changes, like replacing cookies and candy snacks with fruits and vegetables and encouraging staff to take the stairway instead of the elevator. An incentive program can reward employees for losing weight and lowering cholesterol and blood pressure levels. Lunchtime walking groups and demonstrations of exercises to do at the desk can reap benefits. Also engage your employees’ entire family in prevention programs to extend healthy habits at home. Healthier employees are typically happier and more productive.
Where do we start?
Take steps to create a healthier work force. Connect with hospitals, physicians and the American Heart Association for collaborative programs, screenings and lifestyle advice for employees — and that includes management. Post healthy lifestyle reminders throughout the workplace. Link your Web site and intranet to health prevention sites. MemorialCare’s Web site (memorialcare.org) has health tools and calculators in the ‘Your Health’ section that help evaluate your risk for a number of diseases. There are free health guides on our Web site for heart attack symptoms as well as heart-healthy eating and women’s heart matters.
MemorialCare Health System facilities can offer your company health education and prevention programs at your worksite or other convenient locations as well as comprehensive heart evaluations and executive physicals.
David Perkowski, M.D., is a cardiac surgeon at Saddleback Memorial Medical Center. Steven Schiff, M.D., is a cardiologist and medical director of invasive cardiovascular services at Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center. The not-for-profit MemorialCare Health System includes Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach, Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center in Fountain Valley and Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in Laguna Hills and San Clemente. For additional information on excellence in health care, please visit memorialcare.org.
