Healthbeat 4: UnityPoint launches Heart Failure Support Group [Video]

SIOUX CITY (KTIV) – Unity Point Health has started a ‘Heart Failure Support Group’ put on by the St. Luke’s cardiology team.

The group is coming up at the start of the month, and with each meeting continues to grow in size of supporters and those who face the health problem, themselves.

Heart failure occurs when the heart muscle doesn’t pump blood as well as it should. When this happens, blood often backs up and fluid can build up in the lungs, causing shortness of breath.

“In this country, there’s about 6 million people with a diagnosis of ‘congestive heart failure’. So it’s fairly common is gonna be associated with patients who have had heart attacks in the past or have valve disease, or just what we call cardiomyopathy or weak heart muscle. These patients, a lot of times will present either with a heart attack or then have subsequent …