Heart disease remains a problem in Kentuckiana, but there’s improvement in diagnostics via cardiac imaging. As Yaz Daaboul, MD, cardiologist at Harrison Memorial Hospital in Cynthiana, told me, “Now we’re not only listening to heart valves, but we’re looking at them.”
Dr. Daaboul is new to Kentucky, coming here from Boston. The rural area appeals to him as he “becomes part of the community.” Get to know Dr. Daaboul starting on page 16.
Our cover story in this issue profiles Drs. Hussam Hamdalla and Sharat Koul, interventional cardiologists at CHI Saint Joseph Health. Building a human connection is the key to a positive doctor-patient relationship, they told me. Getting to know their patients’ personal stories helps them deliver the heart health care the patients are seeking. You can read more beginning on page 10.
I enjoyed talking with both Mrin Shetty, MD, at UofL Health Women’s Heart Health program and Kent Morris, MD, at the Norton Heart & Vascular Institute. Each of them related similar feelings of joy that they experience when their patients’ lives are improved by increased cardiovascular health. “It puts a spring in my step,” says Dr. Shetty. Dr. Morris wants his patients to “live life and enjoy it.” Please get acquainted with Drs. Shetty and Morris and their work on pages 14 and 18.
It’s no secret that state legislatures across the country are trying to “practice medicine without a license.” Kentucky is not immune to the problem. The KMA represents physicians and their interests in Frankfort. As an example, in 2022
the KMA made lung cancer screening one of its top priorities and successfully advocated for the passage of House Bill 219, which established the Lung Cancer Screening program within the KY Department for Public Health. Funding for the program amounted to $1 million. Kentucky now ranks #2 in the nation for rates of lung cancer screening. Hooray for the KMA and its past president Dr. Neal Moser!
In MD-Update #148, November 2023, there was a story on the PACE program administered by Bluegrass Care Navigators and Dr. James Borders. To clarify, the counties served by the PACE program run by Bluegrass Navigators are Anderson, Fayette, Franklin, Jessamine, and Woodford counties. Horizon PACE serves Barron, Clinton, Estill, Jackson, Laurel, Madison, McCreary, Pulaski, Rockcastle, Warren, and Wayne counties.
Until December, all the best,
Gil Dunn
Editor/Publisher MD-Update
Interventional cardiologists say the human connection is most important LEXINGTON It’s fair to say that cardiologists understand a thing or two about connections. After all,
Through advanced multimodal cardiac imaging, Dr. Mrin Shetty can predict heart disease before it happens. LOUISVILLE Many women believe breast cancer is the leading cause
Harrison Memorial Hospital adds cardiac MRI CYNTHIANA Harrison Memorial Hospital (HMH), an independent, not-for-profit, community-based hospital in Cynthiana, Kentucky, has recently taken significant steps to
Norton Healthcare’s cardiovascular and surgical experts team up for advanced heart rhythm care LOUISVILLE World-class boxing champion Sugar Ray Robinson once said, “Rhythm is everything.
Baptist Health Medical Group Cardiology began a certified hypertension program for patients with treatment-resistant hypertension LEXINGTON A CDC report from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance
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