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Category Archives: In the News

AHA Dietary Guidelines

The American Heart Association released 2021 dietary guidelines aimed at improving cardiovascular health. The updated recommendations emphasizes the importance of dietary patterns, as well as physical activity and healthy diet recommendations. 

Read more: https://bit.ly/3pvoi83 #hearthealthy #AmericanHeartAssociation

Congratulations, Dr. Miciah Jones!

Congratulations, Dr. Miciah Jones! He recently completed his fellowship and has now earned the designation of Fellow of the American College of Cardiology (FACC). Dr. Jones is an interventional cardiologist at First Coast Heart & Vascular Center with expertise in preventive cardiology, general cardiology, acute heart attack care, and both non-invasive and interventional management of peripheral and coronary artery disease.

First MitraClip™ procedure at Flagler Hospital

FCHV is thrilled to announce, Dr. Sunil Singh, FACC, FSCAI, and team recently completed the first MitraClip™ procedure at Flagler Hospital. Dr. Singh has introduced the procedure as part of the Structural Heart Program with Flagler Health+. This program provides the expert advanced cardiac care and procedures to local Saint Johns County residents.

MitraClip is a minimally invasive procedure to fix your leaky mitral valve. Otherwise known as Mitral Valve Regurgitation. MitraClip can help prevent future complications such as heart failure. During the procedure, doctors access the mitral valve with a catheter. That catheter is guided through a vein in your leg to reach your heart. A small implanted clip is attached to your mitral valve to help it close more completely. This helps restore normal blood flow through your heart. Recovery time is minimal. To learn more about Mitral Valve Regurgitation please visit: www.firstcoastheart.com/medical-services/interventional-vascular-cardiology/transcatheter-mitral-valve-repair/

First Coast Heart & Vascular Center Announces Expansion of Clinical Team With Two New Cardiac Physicians

Drs. Abdoly and Benitez Bring Expert Cardiovascular Care to First Coast Residents

JACKSONVILLE, Oct. 25, 2021 — First Coast Heart & Vascular Center, a comprehensive cardiology practice serving Northeast Florida, today announced the addition of two cardiologists to its growing clinical team: Amir Abdoly, DO, and Edilberto Benitez, MD. Drs. Abdoly and Benitez bring advanced expertise and a commitment to patient education and improving cardiovascular disease outcomes, and will work to expand access to expert cardiac care for residents of Duval, St. Johns, Clay and Flagler counties. 

Dr. Abdoly, the newest member of the Interventional Cardiology section at First Coast Heart, is an interventional cardiologist with a focus on the diagnosis and treatment of coronary and peripheral vascular disease. Dr. Abdoly received his medical degree from the Nova Southeastern College of Osteopathic Medicine. He completed his clinical training in Internal Medicine and Cardiovascular Diseases at Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, where he served as Chief Fellow. He later completed his Interventional Cardiology Fellowship at the Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences.

Dr. Benitez is a board-certified cardiologist and cardiac electrophysiologist with expertise in noninvasive and invasive diagnostic and therapeutic services related to the diagnosis and management of cardiac rhythm disorders, including consultative cardiac electrophysiology, pacemaker and defibrillator implantation, and radiofrequency ablation and cryoablation procedures.  Dr. Benitez received his medical degree from Florida International University. He trained in internal medicine at Cleveland Clinic in Weston, Florida. He then completed a Cardiology Fellowship at the University of Florida in Jacksonville and a sub-specialty Fellowship in Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

Dr. Abdoly will be practicing at First Coast Heart’s Fleming Island office, and Dr. Benitez will see patients primarily at the practice’s University Boulevard and Fleming Island offices. Their addition to the First Coast Heart team demonstrates First Coast Heart’s ongoing commitment to improving access to high quality cardiovascular disease care services in Northeast Florida. 

“We are delighted to have Dr. Abdoly and Dr. Benitez join our team at First Coast Heart & Vascular Center, as we strive to provide contemporary, evidence-based and compassionate care to more patients across the First Coast,” said James Needham, CEO of First Coast Heart & Vascular Center. “Both doctors bring not only clinical expertise but also a passion for patient care and for building vital personal relationships to improve patients’ health and well-being.” 

To schedule an appointment with Dr. Abdoly or Dr. Benitez, please visit www.firstcoastheart.com or call (904) 342-8300.

ABOUT FIRST COAST HEART & VASCULAR CENTER

First Coast Heart & Vascular Center is a leading provider of high-quality cardiovascular disease care in Northeast Florida, offering a comprehensive array of services, including general, interventional, and vascular cardiology, electrophysiology, heart failure, diagnostic imaging and nuclear cardiology. To learn more about First Coast Heart & Vascular Center, please visit https://www.firstcoastheart.com.

World Heart Day 2020

Today is World Heart Day! World Heart Day is part of an international campaign to spread awareness about heart disease and stroke prevention. This is the perfect day to quit smoking, get exercising and start eating healthy ! All in the name of keeping your heart in good working order!

Learn about World Heart Day

The World Heart Federation have found that heart disease and strokes are the world’s leading cause of death, killing 17.1 million people every year. More than victims of cancer, HIV and AIDS and malaria.

Overeating, lack of exercise, unhealthy diets and high blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose levels are all factors which can trigger heart disease and threaten our own lives, and those of loved ones. Heart Day was set up to drive home the message that heart problems can be prevented.

History of World Heart Day

The mission is to improve health globally by encouraging people to make lifestyle changes and promoting education about ways to care for your heart. This lesson is becoming relevant as reports of obesity, poor diet and physical inactivity in children and young people become more common.

World Heart Day is celebrated every year. It was created by the World Heart Federation. The first World Heart Day took place back in 2000. Since then, in 2012, global leaders committed to the reduction of mortality from non-communicable diseases by 25 percent by 2025.

Did you know that almost half of the NCD deaths happen because of cardiovascular disease? This makes it the biggest killer across the world. World Heart Day is the perfect platform for the community to come together in the battle against cardiovascular disease.

How to observe World Heart Day

World Heart Day is all about drawing people’s attention to heart diseases and illnesses, as well as the range of health issues that are associated with this. It makes sense to raise awareness and also improve your own understanding. We recommend taking some time to do a bit of research about heart conditions and risk factors.

There are organizations that take part in this date around the world. They do this through the organization of science fairs, exhibitions, walks, and marathons. Some famous buildings, and landmarks opt to go red on this date so that they can show their support.

If you are opting to celebrate this day, it is important to try and be more attentive to your own heart health. There are a number of different ways that you can do this. This includes following a healthy diet, quitting alcohol, stopping smoking, and getting involved in physical exercises. It is also important to have your cholesterol, blood pressure, and heart checked on a regular basis. 

There are different charities and organizations that do great work when it comes to raising awareness and finding cures for different heart problems. They would appreciate a donation, whether this is a donation of your time, money. Anything that you can do can make a difference to someone’s life!

To learn more, visit: https://www.world-heart-federation.org/world-heart-day/world-heart-day-2020/
#FCHV #FirstCoastHeart #HeartDay #WorldHeartDay #CVD #HeartAssociation #HeartHealth #Cardiology #Cardiologist #StAugustineCardiology #HealthyHeart #HeartDoctors #TopDocs #cardiovasculardisease

Dr Sunil Singh performs Watchman Flx

Dr Singh performed one of the first Watchman Flx procedures, at Memorial Hospital yesterday! This is a new, exciting option for patients that want to get off blood thinners for AFib. To learn more about the WatchmanFlx, visit http://ow.ly/L4OX50Bi9lE To learn more about Dr Singh or any of our wonderful doctors, please visit http://ow.ly/a2sL50BhA2Z To make an appointment at any one of our 9 locations, please call: Duval: (904) 423-0010 Clay: (904) 375-8100 St. Johns: (904) 342-8300 Flagler and Putnam: (386) 446-9966 #FCHV #FirstCoastHeart #watchman #memorialhospital #DrSingh #TopDocs #jacksonvillecardiologist #cardiologist #cardiology #afib #AF #watchmanflx

FCHV to add Cardiologist in Palatka

BIG NEWS!!! FCHV is excited to announce that starting August 20th, Cardiologist Dr Christopher Edwards will be seeing patients monthly at Express Family Care of Palatka, at 6500 Crill Ave Palatka, FL 32177. First Coast Heart and Vascular is proud to bring this expert cardiologist with extensive experience in Vascular Disease, to Putnam County. Dr. Edwards will continue to see patients in Palm Coast and St. Augustine as well. Our Putnam county patients can call 386-446-9966 to make an appointment with Dr Edwards at this new Palatka location. To learn more about Dr Christopher Edwards, please visit: https://www.firstcoastheart.com/physicians/christopher-edwards-do-facc/

#FCHV #FirstCoastHeart #Cardiologist #bestcardiologist #DrEdwards #putnamcardiologist #palatkacardiologist #bestveindoctor #veindoctor #topdocs #topdoctors #expressfamilycare

Possible Covd-19 vaccination

First Coast Heart and Vascular’s Doctor Koren, is looking for volunteers for a clinical trial of a possible Covd-19 vaccination. https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/local/jacksonville-participants-needed-clinical-trial-covid-19-vaccine/H6BMWPUGBJFGLFOFTI7QX7HTN4/?fbclid=IwAR3oXcRlGfFdRXqPI734NjmwMdEphkLn1diu-Btr9LjyFHE2Zgt-C1GYPT8

New Heart Failure Device Clinic

First Coast Heart and Vascular has started a Heart Failure- Device Clinic. Supervised by our 3 Electrophysiologists, Dr. Dinesh Pubbi, Dr. Neil Sanghvi, and Dr. Nicholas Mandalakas, and cardiac device clinic manager, Paul Begley, we are monitoring specific heart failure diagnostics in our implanted devices to help catch symptoms of HF before it progresses. We are hoping prevent future HF hospitalizations in our patients. Managing our heart failure patients with implantable devices is all about being proactive, not reactive, and catching HF early before it progresses. This patient, JM, came in today after her remote monitor sent us a transmission suggesting the patient may have been in the early stages of worsening HF. After talking with the patient, she immediately came in and was seen by Dr. Pubbi. The patient was so thankful she received a call and sure enough, was experiencing SOB and felt “awful” . These tools help us proactively manage our cardiac device clinic patients with heart failure. #FCHV #FirstCoastHeart #DrPubbi#DrSanghvi #DrMandalakas #Cardiology #cardiologists #HeartFailure #HF #HeartFailureDeviceClinic #GreatDoctors

Long-Term Efficacy and Safety of Evolocumab in Patients With Hypercholesterolemia

Here is a recent study conducted by Dr. Michael J. Koren of First Coast Heart and Vascular.

Long-Term Efficacy and Safety of Evolocumab in Patients With Hypercholes.._

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