Support After a Heart Attack

Israel Olivieri is helping organize a group for survivors like himself

On a beautiful afternoon in late fall, 44-year-old Israel Olivieri decided to mow his lawn one last time before winter. While pushing the mower, he felt discomfort in his left shoulder, and afterward he started sweating and felt pain in his chest. His wife, Lisa, wanted to call 9-1-1, but he objected. “I knew the symptoms of a heart attack, but I was in denial,” the Whitehall man says. She called anyway.

At Lehigh Valley Hospital, staff initiated the MI Alert for Heart Attacks protocol. It prompted caregivers to work quickly to reopen Olivieri’s blocked artery in just 55 minutes (better than the 90-minute “gold standard” for heart attack care). Before that happened, though, Olivieri had to be shocked back to life twice when his heart stopped beating.

In the cardiac catheterization lab, interventional cardiologist Anthony Urbano, M.D., found one of Olivieri’s major coronary arteries (known as the “widow maker”) completely blocked. He opened it with a tiny balloon (angioplasty) and inserted two metal stents to hold the artery open.

When Olivieri saw his wife after the procedure, he cried. “Right then, I decided to change my life,” he says.

The father of three never thought he’d have a heart attack, especially at such a young age. He didn’t smoke or have a family history of heart disease. “His cholesterol was high and he was slightly overweight,” says Olivieri’s family medicine physician, Gary Pryblick, D.O., who advised Olivieri on lifestyle modifications, potential future medications and followup. “Based on his age and a review of his risk factors, he had only a 3 percent risk of having a heart attack over the next three years,” Pryblick says. “Unfortunately, he was one of the 3 percent.”

When the Olivieris went home, they threw away all the unhealthy foods in their pantry. Their next grocery store trip lasted two hours because they spent so much time reading labels. They bought a treadmill. He even created a binder that contains all his medical records, medications, and a log where he documents what he eats and when he exercises.

Something else happened to Olivieri at home. He became depressed and scared. “I was somewhat of a hypochondriac,” he says. “The slightest aches and pains made me nervous.” Worried that something was wrong, he went to the emergency room twice, only to learn his heart was fine. “I was having trouble with the realization that I’m not bullet-proof, and that I almost left my family,” he says.

He wanted to talk to someone who’d experienced what he was feeling, but when he searched for a heart attack support group, he couldn’t find one. Then he talked to MI Alert coordinator Steve Palmer, R.N. Together, they decided to start a group at Lehigh Valley Hospital.

“People’ve who suffered a heart attack will feel comforted and reassured when they can talk to people who’ve been there,” Olivieri says. His wife agrees. “Wouldn’t it have been nice for us to talk with someone about that first trip to the grocery store?” she says.

Now that the support group is being organized, Olivieri and Palmer hope it grows to the point that a member is always available to talk with patients in the hospital right after they suffer an attack. “We also would like to invite heart specialists to meetings to give presentations on the latest treatments and ways to stay healthy,” Olivieri says.

He can provide some health tips of his own. Since his heart attack, he’s significantly lowered his cholesterol and lost more than 20 pounds. He hopes the support group can help others do the same.

If you’re interested in joining Lehigh Valley Hospital’s heart attack support group, call 610-402-CARE.

Want to Know More? For Olivieri’s full story and information on the heart attack support group, call 610-402-CARE or click here.

Published from Healthy You Magazine, July-August 2008

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