Heart Health: You Gotta Love February!

By Robyn Marlow

Heart Health

There is a lot to love about the shortest month of the year.

Every year, we celebrate February — National Heart Month – by offering $125 heart screenings. Mississippi has the highest mortality rate due to heart disease in the country. We wanted to do our part by making heart screenings affordable and easy to get.

This full Heart Healthy Screening includes a CT scan of your heart to get a complete calcium scoring. It also includes ultrasounds of your carotid arteries in your neck and of your abdominal aorta that goes through the back of your heart, through your abdomen and down your legs. Lastly, our test includes a complete ABI (ankle-brachial index) to check your blood pressure throughout your extremities.

Introducing Dr. Mike Mattingly

What’s more, this month we have opened our hearts to our new Pediatric and Fetal Cardiologist, Dr. Mike Mattingly. He comes to North Sunflower Medical Center through our partnership with the Mississippi Center for Advanced Medicine where Mike continues to serve as the Medical Director of Pediatric Cardiology.

Dr. Mattingly joins Dr. Gene Hutcheson, who has been our cardiologist in residence for several years. Many will remember Dr. Hutcheson for a story CNN’s State magazine did featuring the amazing care he provides to our North Sunflower Medical Center patients.

Dr. Mattingly graduated cum laude from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and received his Medical Degree (M.D.) from the University of Miami. He completed his Pediatric internship at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego before serving two years with the Marines in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and deploying in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Dr. Mattingly is a two-time recipient of the Uniformed Services University Resident Teacher of the Year in Pediatrics and directed the medical student Pediatric Core Clerkship at the hospital. We are all excited to have him serve children in Mississippi and help expand access to underserved areas for pediatric cardiology patients.

Offering comprehensive heart health with amazing cardiologists like Dr. Mattingly, and Dr. Hutcheson – and $125 comprehensive heart screenings – is our love letter the Mississippi Delta.