For three weeks, Jim Conway (center) hadn’t felt right. “When I went hunting, I noticed that I couldn’t walk 100 yards in a field before I was out of breath and had to rest,” Jim explains. “I was also feeling chest pains.” Fortunately, Jim went to see Dr. Thomas Getta, a family medicine specialist with Palo Alto County Health System (PACHS). Dr. Getta immediately ordered a cardiac catheterization. “I had 90 to 95 percent blockage in two arteries and needed two stents put in,” Jim says. “If I had waited longer to find help, I probably would have had a heart attack.”
A week later, Jim started cardiac rehab at PACHS. “It’s a really friendly place,” says Jim, who usually works out on a treadmill.“ Christine Pixler (left), Vienna Hahle (right), and the entire staff are always upbeat, enthusiastic and encouraging. Everybody there should be a cheerleader. They make the experience fun. They would monitor my heart as well as check my blood pressure and glucose levels since I’m a diabetic.”
After seven weeks of cardiac rehab, the difference in Jim’s fitness is remarkable. “I now can walk almost three miles on a treadmill, traveling faster than three miles an hour, with no problem,” Jim says. “I still go
there once a week for maintenance because I enjoy it so much. My heart is in the right place at PACHS!”
