Thomas Jefferson University Offers New Way For People To Get Health Screenings For The Heart
By Michelle Durham
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- If you pull into the parking lot of your local pharmacy or shopping mall in the next few months, chances are you may see a big blue Thomas Jefferson University bus parked there. The bus is staffed with professionals who can do health screenings.
Team Leader of the Jefferson University Hospital bus, Belinda Spruhde, explained what screenings were being performed inside the bus at the Rite-Aid Pharmacy parking lot in Ardmore.
"We're doing preventative screenings for heart attacks, strokes, and aneurysms," said Spruhde. "There are ultrasounds and we do a blood circulation test, hardening of the artery and EKG."
Dr. David Fishman, Co-Director of the Cardiac Catherization Laboratory, explained why these screenings are so important.
"About 50% of the individuals who first present with a heart problem, present with a heart attack, never had a symptom in their life," said Fishman.
Russ, a patient, said he came for the convenience and because of the cost.
"It's a great bargain," he said. It's about 10% of what you'd pay. It's in the $2-hundred to $3-hundred range rather then $25-hundred to $3-thousand."
To schedule a screening on the Jefferson bus, call: (855) 712-8378 or click here.
