The Duke Heart Center is not so much a place as it is a community, one composed of a series of vital relationships. Through clinical partnerships and educational programs, the Heart Center reaches out to cities, towns, and rural areas throughout our service region to help residents enjoy better heart health and to help caregivers provide better heart care. In turn, through the efforts of a dedicated community of volunteers and supporters, the Heart Center is better able to fulfill its mission of providing outstanding heart care -- and ensure that today's heart care will be even better tomorrow.

Click here to find out about our Heart Center supporters and volunteers.

Senior Heart Health Education Programs
The Duke Heart Center Community Education Program provides ongoing heart health education to congregate meal sites, retirement communities, and assisted living facilities. Health education sessions are from 45 minutes to one hour in length.

School Heart Health Education Program
These programs develop and implement heart health awareness programs specifically designed to increase middle-school-aged children's knowledge about cardiovascular health. Programs such as "Let's Start Your Heart" allow students to become familiar with the physiology of the heart and a heart-healthy lifestyle, and teaches them how to recognize risk factors for developing heart disease. Programs are taught in school settings, recreation and community centers, and to local church groups.

Community Health Fairs
The Duke Heart Center participates in many health fairs throughout North Carolina, providing blood pressure screenings and heart disease risk assessments.

Community Outreach Events
The Community Education Program collaborates with other groups at Duke at outreach events in the Triangle and surrounding areas. These include the "Ask Cooking Light/Southern Living Magazine Tour," Senior Day at the North Carolina State Fair, and the Statewide Methodist Ministers Conference.

Heart Health Education at Teer House
On the second Thursday of each month, Duke Heart Center offers educational programs at Teer House on Roxboro Road in Durham, North Carolina. Sample program topics include:

• Cholesterol: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly
• Understanding Your Risk Factors for Heart Disease
• Alternate Heart-healthy Holiday Cooking
• Managing Stress

Registration for all events begins two weeks before the event date. For information about upcoming events and to register, call (919) 416-DUKE or (888) ASK-DUKE. For more information, call (919) 681-9275.

The Duke Heart Center Speakers Bureau

The Duke Heart Center Speakers Bureau brings the latest information about preventive cardiac health care and advances in cardiovascular medicine, free of charge, to community groups, civic clubs, work sites, and social and professional organizations. Talks generally last from 30 to 45 minutes, followed by a question-and-answer session. We'll be glad to adapt a talk to your specific requirements.

To schedule a Duke Heart Center expert to speak at an upcoming event, call (919) 681-9275. Please provide at least a 30-day notice, as well as a description of your audience, the environment in which the event will be held, and any additional information the speaker might find helpful.

Topics Available

Prevention

• Heart Disease: Understanding Your Risk and Staying Healthy
• Cholesterol: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
• Good Nutrition for a Heart-Healthy Diet
• Exercise Training for a Healthy Heart
• CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) Training
• Stress Management for a Healthier Heart

Diagnosis and Treatment

• New Approaches for Diagnosis and Treatment of Heart Disease
• Heart Attack: How to Recognize It and What to Do
• Choosing a Cardiovascular Provider
• The Gender Gap: Women and Heart Disease
• Advances in Cardiovascular Research
• Heart Disease in the African-American Population
• Special Concerns for Heart Disease and the Elderly
• Understanding Your Medications

Rehabilitation

• Life After a Heart Attack: Strategies for Rehabilitation
• Can Heart Disease Be Reversed?
• Advances in Cardiac Rehabilitation

General

• Impact of Health Care Reform on Cardiovascular Care
• The Duke Heart Center Approach to Heart Disease -- Science to Bedside Care
• The Duke Heart Center Patient Support Program

The Continuing Medical Education Calendar below lists cardiology-related items and programs.

Monthly Cardiology Research Conference
Searle Center, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC
2 CME Credits
Contact: Division office 919-681-6000
Every 3rd Wed. /month
Includes dinner

Cardiology Grand Rounds
Various topics
Room 2002, Duke Hospital lecture hall, Durham NC
1 CME Credit
Contact: Dr. Tom Bashore's office 919-684-2407
Start: 05:00 PM - End: 06:00 PM
Every Monday

Echo Grand Rounds
Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC
1 CME Credit
Contact: Dr. Joe Kisslo's office 919-684-6398
Start: 12:00 PM - End: 01:00 PM
Thursdays

Duke Heart Center Community Partnerships
At the Duke Heart Center, we are committed to serving not only patients within Duke Hospital, but those in surrounding communities and hospitals as well. The Duke Heart Center has established a growing network of partnerships with more than 25 regional physicians and hospitals. These partnerships help patients throughout central North Carolina and southern Virginia access high-quality cardiac care without having to travel to Duke and assist communities in the development of their own cardiology and heart surgery programs. Nearly one in every ten of all Duke cardiology visits, consults, and diagnostic cardiac catheterization procedures are done in community settings. Duke Heart Center community-based services and programs include:

HeartCare Cardiac Catheterization Lab Programs: Duke staffs two mobile cath labs serving eight communities in North Carolina and southern Virginia. All are networked into Duke's Cardiovascular Databank.

Community PDC Faculty: A growing number of community-based cardiologists and cardiovascular surgeons are affiliated with Duke's PDC (Physicians Diagnostic Clinic). All community PDC physicians have fully met the qualifications for staff appointments to the Duke faculty, and are fully credentialed.

Mobile Echocardiography: Duke operates an off-site mobile echo service serving adult and pediatric populations in several communities, in addition to providing interpretations for a number of hospitals, many of them done remotely with diagnostic images transmitted to Duke via telephone lines.

Adult and Pediatric Cardiology Clinics: Duke cardiologists provide several consultative clinics to patients in affiliated communities each month.

On-Site Conferences and Symposia: Monthly cardiovascular conferences jointly conducted by a community cardiologist, a Duke cardiologist, and a Duke cardiovascular surgeon are presented monthly to family practitioners and internists in five affiliated communities.

Inreach: Referring cardiologists from several affiliated communities regularly participate at Duke in clinical, educational and research-related activities in areas including the Interventional Cath Lab and the Cardiac Diagnostic Unit.

Critical Care Transport Programs: Duke's LifeFlight critical care air transport service provides more than 900 cardiac-related transports throughout the region each year. Duke LifeCare vehicles, permanently stationed at sites throughout our service region, provide more than 200 cardiac care transports annually to other area facilities and to Duke.