When your heart isn’t working properly, your entire body can feel the impact. And when your heart is failing, it can be very dangerous. Especially if you aren’t aware that it’s happening.

Congestive heart failure (CHF) is a chronic and progressive condition that affects the pumping power of your heart muscles. While often referred to as “heart failure,” CHF specifically refers to the stage in which fluid builds up around the heart and causes it to pump inefficiently. Patients with congestive heart failure commonly experience very serious symptoms that if not treated quickly, can result in costly visits to the emergency department, hospital readmissions, or even worse, serious injury to the patient, or even death.

To help patients manage CHF at home, Archbold Home Health Services recently introduced a new connected cardiac care program, Archbold Home Health Heart Watch.

The comprehensive program helps patients with heart failure learn new coping skills and how to properly care for themselves at home. Patients also have access to new easy-to-use telemonitoring technology. The technology is installed in the patient’s home, and allows Archbold Home Health nurses to closely monitor a patient’s blood pressure, heart rate, blood glucose level, oxygen levels, weight and health status daily, between home health visits when the patient’s nurse may not be scheduled to be inside the home. If abnormal results are detected, the technology alerts the patient’s nurse immediately. The nurse is then able to contact the patient’s physician, and ensure medical assistance is deployed to the patient’s home.

“We’re very excited about our new Home Health Heart Watch Program,” said Archbold Home Health administrator Amy Ferry, RN. “We’re committed to helping keep our patients safe while they are managing their disease at home, and this new program has really helped us do that. Since implementing the technology, we’ve already seen great patient outcomes in the homes of our patients with CHF.”

Ferry recommends talking with your doctor to see if the Archbold Home Health Heart Watch might be beneficial for you or a family member living with CHF.