Understanding your risk factors for developing heart disease can help prevent heart attack and stroke. Doctors and care teams at Ascension Borgess Hospital Heart Failure Clinic specialize in cardiology. Our heart clinic is in Kalamazoo, Michigan. We listen to understand you and your health concerns. Then, we work with you to create a care plan that’s right for you.
At our heart clinic, our care team coordinates your heart tests and treatments and monitors your care. Your cardiologist is your primary heart care doctor. We work with other cardiovascular specialists and services at Ascension Borgess Hospital to deliver care that’s right for you. Some of our cardiologists at this office are also interventional cardiologists and perform minimally invasive heart procedures such as angioplasty and stent placement to open clogged arteries.
Helping you improve your heart health
When your energy level is different than usual, your heart starts racing or you have symptoms of a heart disease, we’re here to help. Your cardiologist helps you recognize how other factors, such as reflux, medications and other health treatments, can affect your heart. We use heart imaging tests, cholesterol tests, heart enzyme blood tests, EKG, and blood pressure monitoring to detect all types of heart disease — irregular heartbeat, leaky heart valve, clogged coronary artery, and more.
If you are experiencing symptoms of heart disease, contact your doctor. Symptoms may be different between men and women:
- Chest pain or discomfort
- Feeling weak, light-headed, or faint
- Pain or discomfort in the jaw, neck, or back
- Pain or discomfort in one or both arms or shoulders
- Shortness of breath
For a life-threatening emergency, go directly to the ER or call 911.
Specialty care for AFib and other types of heart disease
Cardiologists provide specialty care for arrhythmia. We focus on helping you reduce your risk for stroke and heart attack. Having atrial fibrillation or a blockage in the carotid arteries that deliver blood to the brain may increase your risk for a stroke or transient ischemic attack (also called a TIA or mini-stroke). If you have AFib, your doctor may evaluate you for the Watchman™ procedure which offers an alternative to the lifelong use of Warfarin for people with AFib not caused by heart valve problems (also known as non-valvular AFib).
Ascension Borgess Hospital Heart Failure Clinic provides cardiovascular treatments, including:
- Ablation procedures - cryoablation, stereotaxis and radiofrequency
- Anticoagulation therapy
- Bypass surgery
- Cardiac rehabilitation
- CRT heart synchronization
- Electrophysiology (EP) testing of the heart’s electrical system
- Heart failure management
- Implantable pacemakers and defibrillators
- Implantable loop recorder for long-term heart rhythm monitoring
- Medication management
- Valve surgery, TAVR and MitraClip™
- Watchman™ procedure
