LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY)- February is National Heart Month. Cardiologist Dr. Arti Singh has an infectious enthusiasm for promoting heart health, especially in women.
She is dedicated to more than just treating her patients with heart disease. She wants ladies talking about it.
“I was the first female cardiologist in Lafayette, and it’s been my honor and my pleasure to take care of the women in Acadiana.”
It becomes obvious in her animation and the smile on her face how passionate Dr. Singh is about women and heart disease.
“I keep stressing that heart disease is really preventable. Ninety percent of it is preventable regardless of genetic make up in your family.”
Dr. Singh moved here with her husband, also a cardiologist, and her two year old from Michigan. Since she arrived in 2018, she has been instrumental in developing opportunities for women to learn more about how heart disease may affect them, and she strives to educate not only her patients but the community about what they need to know.
“We’ve been involved with many projects and activities and using any avenue to reach out to women,” Singh said.
She believes these educational opportunities benefit any woman who takes advantage of them, but she sees spreading that word is the greatest challenge.
“Raising awareness which is still very much lacking, and you realize that even though heart disease is the number one killer of women, one out of three after the age of 65, We all know that, but it’s staggering when you learn that only one out of five consider this as their greatest risk.”
It’s impossible not to visit with Dr. Singh and want to run out and share her message with everyone. She tells me most women are unaware that they may have heart disease.
“When I treat a woman patient and I detect heart disease, it’s astounding. It’s an eye opener. They go tell their family members, and I realize I’m seeing her sister, her mother, her cousin, and the word of mouth is spreading.”
Which is exactly what she wants.
“I would really, really urge the audience that if you have one or more risk factors of heart disease and family history, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, you’re sedentary, or maybe not the best diet, leave it up to your doctor to make the determination if you have heart disease or not and not make your own diagnosis,” she said.
