Heart Failure Program at St. Joseph Hospital Orange

The highly skilled medical experts at the St. Joseph Hospital Heart Failure Program provide evidence-based care for heart failure patients at a compliance level that is higher than the national average. Our mission is to equip our patients and their families with the tools necessary to manage heart failure for improved quality of life and minimal hospitalization. We provide one-on-one education to our patients and their caregivers on topics that include: medications, lifestyle modification, symptoms to recognize and when to contact the physician.

2257.5 miles away
714-744-8849

Heart Failure Program at St. Joseph Hospital Orange

The highly skilled medical experts at the St. Joseph Hospital Heart Failure Program provide evidence-based care for heart failure patients at a compliance level that is higher than the national average. Our mission is to equip our patients and their families with the tools necessary to manage heart failure for improved quality of life and minimal hospitalization. We provide one-on-one education to our patients and their caregivers on topics that include: medications, lifestyle modification, symptoms to recognize and when to contact the physician.

2257.5 miles away

Personalized Treatment for Heart Failure

Heart failure, also known as congestive heart failure, occurs when the heart doesn’t pump blood to the rest of the body as well as it should. The heart tries to compensate by pumping more quickly or enlarging, but it can’t keep up. Eventually the heart weakens, possibly damaging other organs as a result. Oftentimes, fluid then builds up behind the heart, leading to fluid in the lungs and/or other parts of the body. There are four degrees of heart failure, and it may get worse over time. The expert cardiac teams at Providence use the most effective therapies to treat patients with every type of heart failure, including advanced heart failure.

We know that no two patients are the same. This is why your care team works with you to design an individualized treatment plan based specifically on your heart condition and your personal needs. Your care plan may include one or more of the following therapies:

  • Cardiac rehabilitation
  • Cardiac resynchronization therapy
  • Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG)
  • Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO)
  • Heart transplant
  • Heart valve repair, replacement or valvuloplasty
  • Implantable cardio defibrillator (ICD)
  • Prescription medications
  • Total artificial heart (TAH)/mechanical heart
  • Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR)
  • Transcatheter mitral valve repair
  • Ventricular assist devices (LVAD, RVAD, VAD)

You may be referred to the program after a hospital admission or directly from your doctor’s office. Talk with your cardiologist or primary care physician about whether or not the St. Joseph Hospital Heart Failure Program is right for you.

  • Telephone calls: a registered nurse will call you at home after discharge from the hospital or to follow-up. You may contact the heart failure nurse at any time if you have questions or concerns.
  • Inpatient (hospital) education: Prior to discharge, you will receive educational materials and resources. If possible, it is best to have your significant other or caregiver with you during this education session. A video about heart failure is available for you and your family to view as many times as necessary.
  • Outpatient visits: A registered nurse will work closely with your cardiologist or primary care physician to help you manage symptoms of heart failure and prevent hospital admission. These visits have a large emphasis on education and should include the attendance of family members or caretakers whenever possible.

Heart failure is a condition that affects the heart’s ability to pump and receive blood. This decreases the ability of the heart to maintain the needs of the body and might lead to congestion of the lungs and body with fluid, thus the old term “congestive heart failure.”

  • High blood pressure
  • Coronary artery disease (CAD) or previous heart attack
  • Diabetes
  • Increased age
  • Smoking
  • Obesity
  • Drug or alcohol abuse
  • Family history

According to Maged F. Azer, MD, FAAC, medical director of the St. Joseph Hospital Heart Failure Program, “The best treatment of heart failure is prevention.” You can decrease your risk by:

  • Adequately treating high blood pressure
  • Exercising
  • Losing weight (speak with your physician about a goal that is right for you)
  • Quit smoking and avoid second-hand smoke
  • Avoid excessive alcohol intake (ask your physician about what is right for you)
  • Eat a low-cholesterol and low-fat diet

  • Swelling in the feet, ankles or abdomen
  • Shortness of breath or cough that won’t go away
  • Excessive urination at night
  • Weight gain of more than 2 pounds overnight
  • Fatigue, dizziness or lightheadedness
  • A change in ability to do daily activities
  • “Racing” heart rate

  • Seek medical advice from your health care provider early on; avoid waiting until symptoms grow worse.
  • If symptoms progress, go to the Emergency Department for evaluation.
  • The key to successfully treating heart failure is to diagnose the condition in its earliest stages and manage it aggressively to prevent symptoms from worsening.

After you have described your symptoms and your physician has performed a physical examination, one of several diagnostic tests may be used to diagnose heart failure and assess your current heart health.

These diagnostic procedures may include:

  • Echocardiogram: An ultrasound of the heart that is used to evaluate the structures of the heart and its ability to pump blood.
  • Chest X-ray: used to check for congestion of the lungs and to detect an increase in the size of the heart.
  • Stress testing (stress echo or stress nuclear studies): usually done after an initial phase of treatment and helps to evaluate for blockages in the heart vessels or coronary arteries.
  • Cardiac catheterization: a procedure involving the injection of dye into the heart through a needle inserted into the groin. It is used to find out if there are blockages in the heart vessels.
  • Devices such as a stent or angioplasty may be placed during this procedure that help to “open” the blockages.

The main goals in treating heart failure include:

  • Finding a potentially treatable cause and halt or (in certain circumstances) reverse this condition
  • Controlling symptoms and improving the overall outcome using the appropriate therapy

However, recognizing symptoms of heart failure is the first step in managing and treating heart failure. Early detection can prompt you to seek medical care in a timely manner.

Lifestyle modification

Lifestyle modification is one of the main ways to treat heart failure and includes:

  • Quit smoking and avoid second-hand smoke.
  • Follow a low-sodium diet. You should consume no more than 2,000 mg of sodium per day (refer to nutrition labels). Do not cook with salt or add salt to your food.
  • Exercise: consult your physician prior to beginning any exercise routine. It is important to know how well your heart is functioning so you have realistic expectations for your activity level.
  • Weigh daily: this is one of the most important ways to detect fluid retention. You should call your physician if you gain more than 2 pounds overnight.
  • Fluid restriction: you should consume no more than 2 liters (64 oz.) of fluid per day.
  • Take all the medications as they are prescribed by your physician.

Medications

Medications are prescribed to improve quality of life, symptoms of congestion, avoid hospital admissions and prevent stroke or heart attack. Your doctor may prescribe any combination of the following types of medications:

  • ACE Inhibitors: improve the heart function and efficiency (examples include: Lisinopril/Prinivil, Captopril/Capoten, Enalapril/Vasotec)
  • Beta-Blockers: decrease the workload of the heart (examples include: Coreg/Carvedilol, Metorprolol/Toprol)
  • Diuretics: work in the kidney to rid body of excess fluid (examples include: Lasix/Furosemide, Aldactone/Spironolactone, Metolazone)
  • Digoxin: improves the heart’s ability to pump blood effectively
  • “Blood thinners” help prevent heart attack and stroke (may include Aspirin and Coumadin/Warfarin)

Opening blocked arteries

If you have blocked coronary (heart) arteries, your physician may advise you to have a Coronary Artery Bypass surgery or a stent or angioplasty (devices to open the blockage).

Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy

Your physician may advise you to have Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy (CRT). This is a surgical procedure that includes placing a device in the left upper part of your chest (like a pacemaker) that is designed to synchronize your heart contractions so that your blood is pumped more effectively.

Heart transplant

Your physician may refer you to a heart transplant center for evaluation. Not all heart failure patients qualify for a transplant.

Left Ventricular Assist Device

A Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) is an implantable heart pump that may be used as a temporary treatment until a heart transplant can be performed. This is used in patients with advanced stages of heart failure.

The St. Joseph Home Health program provides nursing care at home. This may be appropriate for patients who are unable to visit the outpatient Heart Failure Program and want to avoid unnecessary visits to the hospital or Emergency Department. Physical and occupational therapy can assist with energy conservation techniques. You or your loved one may be referred to the Home Health program after a discharge from the hospital or after discussing this option with your primary health care provider.

The St. Joseph Hospice Cardiac program provides excellent care to those with end-stage cardiac disease who would like to stay at home without having to come back to the hospital for pain or other cardiac symptoms, such as fluid overload. A hospice nurse will be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and other team members such as a social worker, chaplain and aide are available for support, counseling, assistance with accessing community resources and personal care. Hospice provides medications, equipment and supplies to ensure patient comfort and safety. Bereavement services are also available.

St. Joseph Hospital offers a Heart Failure Discussion Group that meets on the fourth Monday of every month from 11 a.m. to noon in the second floor boardroom of the St. Joseph Hospital Outpatient Pavilion. The Outpatient Pavilion is located at 1140 W. La Veta Ave. in Orange. For more information, please call 714-744-8858.

Tools of the Trade: These are documents designed to help you manage heart failure and include:

  • Daily Weight Tracker: this grid allows you to track your weight and blood pressure on a daily basis. You should complete this grid and bring it with you to each doctor’s appointment.
  • Reading a Food Label for Sodium Content: this tool is designed to help you understand what to look for when reading a food label. Share these tips with family members or caretakers who prepare your meals.
  • Telephone Calls to Your Doctor: a prompt to help you communicate effectively with your doctor when you are having symptoms of Heart Failure.

These are websites that may help you understand heart failure and how it is treated:

Why Choose Us for Heart Failure Care?

At Providence, we see the life in you. We are committed to making a positive difference in every life we touch.

Our patients are at the heart of everything we do, which is why we’re always looking for ways to make your experience better. If your treatment requires innovative procedures, we’ve got you covered. When end-stage heart failure sent Greg Soumokil to the Intensive Care Unit, his Providence care team knew he didn’t have time to wait for a donor heart transplant. So they opted for the SynCardia temporary Total Artificial Heart (TAH-t), a technology so innovative that fewer than 20 patients nationwide have one. The artificial heart allowed Mr. Soumokil to return home to his family while he waited for a heart transplant.

Our improved referral process makes it easier for patients to stay with Providence, the network they trust. We’ve also introduced a program to help patients get faster care through virtual visits with a nurse practitioner. This patient-centered approach is why patients have trusted Providence with their heart failure care for many years.

We take a team-based approach to treating your heart failure. Why? Because we know this leads to the best results. Every Providence patient has access to world-class care from leaders in the field. Your multidisciplinary care team includes board-certified heart care specialists who have superior outcomes treating the most complex conditions. Your heart care team also works closely with dietitians to help you make heart-healthy food choices, physical therapists to help you keep living life to its fullest, genetic specialists to help determine the cause of your condition and nurse navigators to coordinate your care with your primary care physician. Your care may include treatment at one of Providence’s many dedicated heart failure clinics.

We understand that the impact of heart disease is greater in marginalized communities. Genetics plays a part, but unequal access to great health care is also a factor. At Providence, we value, respect and support the racial, ethnic, religious, gender, sexual and spiritual identities of all our patients. We are deeply committed to making sure everyone in our diverse communities has equal access to the best heart care. To do this, we offer location-specific services that help meet our patients’ needs. This includes translation for non-English-speaking patients, telehealth and transportation assistance. And we never turn a patient away, regardless of their ability to pay. Instead, we work harder to make sure every patient is treated equally and with dignity – whoever you are, and wherever you’re at.

As a patient at Providence, you belong to one of the largest community-based networks for heart care in the United States. This means your local heart care team shares knowledge and experience with other cardiac specialists across 51 hospitals in seven states. If specialty care is needed, your heart care team can easily reach the physicians with the most expertise. Take the story of heart disease patient Josefa Rivera. When the young mother went into heart failure, she was transferred mid-surgery to a Providence hospital for a higher level of care. Her treatment at Providence meant she was able to return home to her toddler a few weeks later. The power of our network is one of the reasons 40,000 heart failure patients, and more than 400,000 heart patients, choose Providence each year.

Providence is well known for offering options – and hope – to patients seeking the most advanced therapies to treat heart failure. We participate in national and international data registries that track cardiovascular outcomes. This helps us learn more to continually improve our care for you. Our doctors and scientists also support groundbreaking research projects, such as a clinical trial testing the safety and effectiveness of a device to treat heart failure. Our leadership helps us provide better heart care – and a better life – for you and your loved ones.

THE POWER OF OUR NETWORK

Part of the Providence Heart & Vascular Institute of Orange County

  • As a top-tier research institute, we’ll offer you the most innovative treatment – all in the comfort of your local community hospital.
  • Through our cutting-edge cardiac genetics program, we’ll help you understand your risk and develop a care plan together.
  • More than 9,000 heart patients choose us for their care each year.

Learn More About the Providence Heart & Vascular Institute in Orange County