Focus on Heart Failure Nurses

“Save one life and you’re a hero, save one hundred lives and you’re a nurse.”

This anonymous quote highlights the important role of nurses in the medical profession. With this in mind, ARC participated in the American Association of Heart Failure Nurses (AAHFN) conference held June 22-24 in Scottsdale, AZ.

Cardiac involvement due to amyloidosis is a progressive disorder that can result in early death and a patient can often experience congestive heart failure (CHF) and arrhythmias. We were pleased to expand medical community awareness by hosting a special Amyloidosis Focus Group for nurses, which included a presentation on heart failure HFpEF and amyloidosis presented by Cindy Bither, President-elect of the AAHFN, as well as a presentation by Dena Heath on ARC and the new Amyloidosis Clinical Resources App.

Our participation also included an information booth where we spoke with many nurses that were extremely interested in learning everything they could about the disease. ARC provided our newest tools for improving earlier diagnosis and treatment – The Cardiac Alert and Clinical Trials pocket cards that we developed for healthcare professionals.  We also demonstrated the new Amyloidosis Clinical Resources App recently launched at the American College of Cardiologists Conference in Chicago, which is available for free on the iTunes App and Google Play stores.

At ARC, we are working diligently to breakdown the awareness, research and drug development barriers that are often overlooked.  A significant obstacle is the information and communication gap between the patient and his or her team of doctors.  Nurses play a significant role in bridging this gap, often as the “front door” to diagnosis and treatment.  The amyloidosis information provided by ARC was very well received at this conference, with heart failure nurses around the country responding to our call for action.