Heart Care
Heart disease is the number one killer of men and women in the United States, and it’s never too early to begin protecting yourself. While some risk factors can’t be avoided, many others can be controlled with healthy lifestyle changes, such as a proper diet and regular exercise.
Risks you can’t avoid
- Increasing age
- Gender (men have higher risk)
- Heredity (including race)
Risks you can control
- Smoking
- High blood cholesterol
- High blood pressure
- Physical inactivity
- Obesity and overweight
- Diabetes
- Stress
- Alcohol consumption
Exceptional Heart Care, Close to Home
Allegiance Health offers a complete range of heart services, from risk prevention education through cardiac rehabilitation. Our Heart and Vascular Center opened in February 2008, bringing open-heart surgical services to the Jackson community for the first time.
Led by University of Michigan cardiovascular surgeons Mahender Macha, MD, and Vincent Simonetti, MD, the Heart and Vascular Center features technologically advanced operating rooms and a Cardiac Universal Bed wing with 20 private patient rooms.
This unit is designed so patients can remain in the same spacious room from post-surgery recovery through discharge – avoiding the discomfort and inconvenience of moving to different areas of the hospital for each level of care.
Allegiance Health’s state-of-the-art emergency angioplasty program continues to beat national best-practice time standards for procedures in which minutes saved mean heart muscle saved.
The care teams at Allegiance Vascular Health and the Diagnostic Vascular Laboratory detect and prevent damage from blocked carotid arteries and abdominal aneurisms. And our Cardiac Rehabilitation coaches patients on physical exercise and proper nutrition to rebuild strength and prevent further heart attacks and strokes.
With our experienced professionals, advanced technology and award-winning quality care – you can trust your heart to Allegiance Health.
U of M Partnership
Allegiance Health has partnered with the University of Michigan, Department of Surgery, Section of Cardiac Surgery to provide an exceptional experience for our patients. Our experienced cardiac surgeons are:
Mahender Macha, MD
Mahender Macha specializes in adult cardiac surgery. He graduated from the University of Michigan Medical School in 1991, and completed his training in Cardiothoracic Surgery and Transplantation at Stanford University in 2001. He was an Assistant Professor of Surgery at Temple University in Philadelphia performing adult cardiac surgery, cardiac and pulmonary transplantation, and implanting mechanical ventricular assist devices until 2007. In addition to his active clinical practice, he has an interest in both clinical and basic science research related to end-stage heart failure and the development of innovative therapies.
Learn more about Dr. Macha »
Vincent Simonetti, MD
Vincent Simonetti specializes in adult cardiac surgery. He graduated from Wayne State University School of Medicine in 1990 and completed his residency in general surgery at Henry Ford Hospital. He completed his training in cardiothoracic surgery at Wayne State University School of Medicine and The Detroit Medical Center and spent an additional year as a clinical and research fellow in Cardiopulmonary Transplantation at Henry Ford Hospital.
Learn more about Dr. Simonetti »