Yvette Walker
With KVCR News. I'm Yvette Walker. This is IE Latino voices, where we invite representatives from Latino led and Latino serving organizations to share their stories and their impact in our region. Joining me today is Dr. Suraj Rasania, cardiologist with elite cardiology group. Thank you so much for being with us today. Dr. Rasania.
Dr. Suraj Rasania
Thank you so much for inviting me here.
Yvette Walker
Please share a bit about the area of specialty you work in.
Dr. Suraj Rasania
Sure, I'm a board-certified Interventional Cardiologist by training, which means that I perform procedures, try to put in stents, balloons, look at patients’ heart, blood vessels to see if they have any sort of blockages in the heart. And also, just general cardiology, we do everything that a general cardiologist does. I believe cardiology -the heart is the main machine of the body. And you know, it all makes sense. When you look at the heart, it all joins together with every single organ of the body. And you know, if the heart's not working, where the rest of the body gets affected. So that's why I kind of like taking care of cardiac patients.
Yvette Walker
Dr. Rasania, what are some of the more common events and procedures for the Latino community?
Dr. Suraj Rasania
Latino and Hispanic community, when they look at the death rate, the mortality, life expectancy, it's actually almost similar to non-Latino, non-Hispanic counterparts, but it's been well shown that they actually have higher risk factor incidence, higher rate of diabetes, metabolic syndrome, obesity, sedentary lifestyle and all that is documented. So it's interesting - the Latino community does have risk factors for having heart disease. We come across heart attacks in Latino community. We come across patients who've had chest pain, shortness of breath, and then that leads to a stress test, and ultimately, we find out there are blockages, and sometimes they need stents. And so those heart procedures from all the cholesterol buildup, and I'm hoping in the coming years that more and more research is published on Latino community. It's just been a slower process overall, because researchers didn't have data until the 1980s on the Latino community.
Yvette Walker
Dr Rasania, can we minimize our risks?
Dr. Suraj Rasania
Yeah, definitely. You know, a lot of the risk can be minimized. I always tell patients, the best medicine is your own personal trying to take care of your health, watch what you eat, no bad habits: smoking, drinking, drugs, those type of things. Trying to just exercise. We always recommend at least 150 minutes of exercise a week, which could be 30 minutes a day, five days a week of moderate intensity exercise. You could go on a nice brief walk every day, five days a week, and that's good enough, you know, bicycling or jogging, anything at all, and also, of course, taking your medicines with that. But again, you always want to try to avoid as many medicines if you can do it yourself. Have the motivation, inspiration, drive to see everything, what you do day to day. I think you can really stay healthy and avoid any sort of cardiac issues.
Yvette Walker
What is the best way to keep track of our heart health?
Dr. Suraj Rasania
A good way in this day and age, many patients have these Apple Watches, the Fitbits, and, you know, it shows how many steps you do a day. We encourage that at times, if they have any sort of devices that track their health, but also, in general, just noticing how you feel as a patient, even the slightest symptom, you should seek professional medical help. Especially with, like I said, the Latino Hispanic community has higher rates of diabetes. Diabetes, unfortunately, many times, affects the nerves of the body, so the pain fiber sensations don't get to the brain. And sometimes diabetics actually don't have the regular symptoms like chest pain of heart disease. They can have other stuff, shortness of breath, just feeling tired by itself, dizzy, lightheaded. And that could also mean some things going on in the heart. So I always say, just keep track of yourself. Don't disregard symptoms and seek professional medical help as soon as you can.
Yvette Walker
Please share the best way to connect with you. Dr. Rasania.
Dr. Suraj Rasania
Sure, so we actually have our website elitecardiogroup.com. We're based out of Upland, California, and we also have an email address listed on the website. We have our phone number listed there: 909-981-8383. And we also have an email address listed on the website. Feel free to email us. The emails always get routed to us personally, too. If there are any questions anything, we always are more than happy to help patients out at any time, and we try to get back within 24/48 hours. And in fact, if anyone needs urgent care, we always try to get them in within three business days to see one of us physicians.
Yvette Walker
Thank you so much for being with us today, Dr. Rasania.
Dr. Suraj Rasania
My pleasure. Thank you.
Yvette Walker
Join us again next week for IE Latino voices, you can find this story and others on our website. At kvcr news.org/IE Latino voices. IE Latino Voices is produced by KVCR Public Media, and is funded by generous support from San Antonio Regional Hospital. Here for life. For KVCR News, I'm Yvette Walker.
