Remote Heart Monitoring Can Help Improve Rural Heart Failure Care
A patient shares her experience managing congestive heart failure in a rural area, highlighting the challenges of accessing specialized care. She eventually received an implanted CardioMEMS sensor to monitor her pulmonary artery pressure and improve her quality of life.
Why it matters
It illustrates the critical role of remote monitoring technology in bridging the healthcare gap for patients living in rural or underserved regions.
Her daughter, who is a nurse, stopped by and took her vital signs.
“I told her what was going on, and she said, ‘Well, Mom, I think we need to get you somewhere. I don’t know, your heart sounds okay, but something’s not right,’” recalled Lindsey.
They went directly to the emergency room, where doctors first suspected a pulmonary embolism . However, bloodwork revealed that Lindsey’s troponin level, a marker of heart damage that should be close to zero, was 4,400.
Doctors determined she was having a massive heart attack . Because she lives in a small town in Missouri, they transported her 45 miles to a hospital equipped to treat her. Two days later, doctors placed a stent .
The heart attack left her with congestive heart failure and a battle with fluid retention. Her condition forced her to retire from her job as a nursing home administrator.
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