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Heart disease is America’s number one killer and occupational stress makes fire as well as law enforcement personnel particularly vulnerable. That’s why the Hudson Valley Heart Center, with five locations across the Hudson Valley region, is offering a free heart screening program targeting these two at-risk occupations.

“The CT calcium scan is our most powerful method of detecting atherosclerotic heart disease at an early stage,” remarks Lawrence Solomon, MD, FACC who heads up this community program. According to Dr. Solomon, recent changes in the field of cardiovascular medicine make it possible to detect heart disease at a very early stage, before there is any significant damage and before there are signs or symptoms of heart disease. Citing a recent study, Dr. Solomon relates that more than 50% of all patients with heart disease will have sudden death or a heart attack as their initial symptom of disease.

The scan takes only 5 minutes and is performed at the Hudson Valley Heart Center’s main office in Poughkeepsie. The usual fee for the service is $99. “We are waiving this fee to express our gratitude for the dedication and hard work of fire personnel and law enforcement officers ,” Dr. Solomon adds. “We want to get to these groups in particular because of the high day-to-day stress they endure in their chosen occupations.”

Results are immediately available. In the case an abnormality is detected, a Hudson Valley Heart Center cardiologist will discuss options. “In a recent study, the CT scan detected that as many as 57% of people who had no symptoms still had evidence of significant plaque in their arteries,” Dr. Solomon adds.

Interested personnel should call 845-473-1188, ext 1206 to make a screening appointment.