For more information, please download our brochure. If you have questions, please call Fletcher Allen Cardiology at (802) 847-4600 or email heartaware@vtmednet.org.

"HeartAware Saved My Life"

"Having some problems with my ticker" is how Seward described the chest pain and shortness of breath that came when he worked on his beautiful property in Richmond. Neither he nor his wife Ida thought much of it.

"He’s always been really healthy and active," said Ida. "We just didn’t think it was anything serious."

But when Seward saw Fletcher Allen’s HeartAware ad in the newspaper, he decided to take the test. That was a Sunday. Monday morning, a member of Fletcher Allen’s Cardiac Prevention group completed the screening and recommended a stress test.

During the stress test, Seward said that "within five minutes on the treadmill, the pain came back." His next stop, was a visit with Cardiologist Ed Terrien, M.D., and a coronary angiogram. The angiogram revealed major blockages in his heart – blockages that would require open heart surgery. "We were shocked," said Ida.

A few days later, Seward met with Cardiothoracic Surgeon Joe Schmoker, M.D., to discuss timing of his surgery. "I told him, ‘let’s do it,’" said Seward. "He said, ‘how about Friday morning at 6 a.m.?’"

And so it was, that within one week, Seward Harvey discovered that he had heart disease and had the surgery that just may have saved his life.

Today, working out regularly at Fletcher Allen’s Cardiac Rehabilitation facility in South Burlington, it all seems like a fortuitous blur of events. "I was so lucky," he said. "I just happened to take the HeartAware test. Who knows what would have happened if I hadn’t?"