Heart Failure Management

The Carraway Center for Heart Failure Management offers comprehensive management for patients with congestive heart failure, including cardiomyopathy, chronic ischemic heart disease, hypertension and valvular heart diseases. Under the leadership of Drs. Alfred Stanley, Jr. and Saji Jacob, the multidisciplinary staff also includes acute care nurse practitioners, registered nurses, case managers, physical therapists, pharmacists and nutritionists.

Through the center’s close relationship with Norwood Clinic Cardiovascular Surgeon, Dr. Connie Athanaseuleas, we are also able to offer surgical options for patients with Congestive Heart Failure.

Working hand-in-hand with the referring physician, the multidisciplinary team of specialists at the heart failure center will develop an individualized plan for each patient that can offer the following options:

> Clinic and telephone monitoring
> Educational programs on medication, exercise and nutrition
> Measurement of clinical progress following drug therapy
> Anticoagulation monitoring
> Lipid monitoring and management
> Initiation, titration and monitoring of ACE inhibitors, beta blocker and ARBS to optimize therapeutic levels
> Electronic heart failure database to track clinical variables and evaluate outcomes
> Access to cardiologists who specialize in heart failure and heart surgeons trained in advanced surgical techniques

The goals of the Center for Heart Failure Management are:

1. To provide day-to-day patient care that focuses on educating and re-educating the patient, then intensely monitoring patient progress to make therapy proactive rather than reactive.
2. To practice contemporary, state-of-the-art, evidence-based, protocol-driven cardiovascular medicine.
3. To contribute to the understanding and advancement of heart disease management through active clinical research. Patients and their families experience significant benefits from participation in the program, including:

> Comprehensive testing for assurance that every possible cause of CHF has been explored
> An individualized treatment plan
> An opportunity for continuous monitoring after leading edge medical and/or surgical therapy
> Repetitive education to optimize patient compliance to medical therapy and changes in lifestyle
> An enhanced quality of life through treatment, education and support

The Carraway Center for Heart Failure Management is open Monday - Friday from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. For more information about the Center’s services, please call 205-502-4200.

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