Raising Awareness of the 'Silent Epidemic' – Heart Failure

Are you suffering from:

• high blood pressure
• high cholesterol
• diabetes
• obesity?

Have you had a heart attack or damage to your heart valves?

Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital wants you to know that you could be one of the 5 million people suffering from heart failure.

The Heart Failure Society of America was instrumental in having the week of Valentine's Day declared as National Heart Failure Awareness Week by the U.S. Senate in 2000.

Heart failure is not a heart attack. Rather it is a common – but frequently underrecognized – progressive condition in which the heart muscles weaken and gradually lose ability to pump enough blood to supply the body's needs.

Heart failure sometimes is called the "silent epidemic" because symptoms often are mistaken as signs of "just getting older." Common symptoms include shortness of breath, fatigue, ankle swelling and chest congestion.

Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital was the first hospital in Texas to become accredited as a Heart Failure Institute by the Healthcare Accreditation Colloquium. The accreditation is based on proficiency in managing heart failure, placing emphasis on both quantity and quality of life.

For more information on heart failure and treatment options, please visit:

What is heart failure? 

Heart failure patient services at THI at St. Luke's (St. Luke's website)

See also on this website:

Patient Care information for Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's (Atención al paciente én español)

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Updated February 2012