BELLE CHASSE, La. — A simple test saved the life of a volunteer firefighter. Doctors say the same quick checkup could save more lives.
No matter how old you are, what you're doing to take care of your health can determine what problems you'll have later in life.
For 46 years, Melvin Kiff has volunteered as a firefighter in Belle Chasse. That was on top of his job with the U.S. Department of Defense. His work is all about saving lives, but it was a simple test from West Jefferson cardiologist Dr. Edmund Kerut that recently saved his.
"Words can almost, can't express from one day thinking everything's hunky-dory fine, to finding this out," Kiff said about the blockages around his heart.
Shortness of breath would come and go, so a five second CT scan to get his coronary calcium score showed big trouble. There was calcium build up in arteries around the heart and blockages to the heart muscle.
Kerut said in one study, children as young as 10 years old who had poor diets already had plaque build up in the arteries in their necks that deliver oxygen to the brain.
He stressed that cardiovascular disease can be anywhere in the body. It starts with your lifestyle in childhood, later causing heart attacks, strokes, and old age dementia when the brain doesn't get enough oxygen.
"This is a life-long process. We can always change our habits and make it a positive impact, no matter what stage we are in life," said Dr. Kerut of the West Jefferson Heart Clinic of Louisiana.
So the American Heart Association has "Life's Simple Seven," a series of lifestyle changes that could save your life. They are: control blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, your food, exercise, weight and don't smoke.
A study found in just eight years, the more of these you do, the lower your risk of dementia while promoting better thinking, understanding, and memory.
"The people that are older in my practice, who are the most alert, the most active, doing different things, have a regular exercise program," Kerut said.
Kiff had stents to open up his arteries. Without those, he may not have been here to celebrate his 50th wedding anniversary in July and his granddaughter's college graduation in December.
"I often, I often, I often think about that," Kiff said through tears.