Abir Mehanna (right), chief operating officer of Corazon Imaging, explains the use of mobile cardiac imaging CT scans, which will begin soon in Wayne County in areas with high rates of cardiac disease and mortality, to improve access and outcomes, during the May 4 Dearborn city council Committee of the Whole meeting, as Councilmembers Ken Paris (left), Leslie Herrick, Robert Abraham and Gary Enos, Chief of Staff Zaineb Hussein and Corporate Counsel Brad Mendelsohn listen.
By SUE SUCHYTA
Times-Herald Newspapers
DEARBORN – Mayor Abdullah Hammoud briefed the City Council May 4 on his plan to bring imaging trailers to town to improve access and better cardiac disease detection through coronary CT imaging.
The mayor will seek the council’s official approval at the May 9 council meeting.
Abdullah said an organization received a large, multi-million-dollar grant from the state to roll out MRI cardiac imaging portable clinics, which will follow four different routes, starting with six sites in Wayne County, with Dearborn being among the sites.
He said the city will be offering free cardiac imaging to all of the city’s frontline personnel.
“It’s the latest technology where they are able to identify just about any issue that somebody could have,” he said. “I am grateful that it is going to be here in the city of Dearborn, and the city of Dearborn’s employees will be benefiting.”
Hammoud said he was happy that Dearborn residents and employees will be among the first people in the state to benefit from this technology.
Chief of Staff Zaineb Hussein said she was impressed by the preventative nature of the tests.
“They can actually detect when there is a certain calcium in your arteries that is a sign that you may have heart disease,” she said.
Abir Mehanna, chief operating officer of Corazon Imaging, attended the May 4 Committee of the Whole meeting to explain the unique services the company provides with the mobile clinics.
She said Michigan has the 13th highest rate among states for heart disease, is the seventh worst state for heart disease mortality rates, and that 70 percent of people who have a heart attack were not accurately diagnosed with current tests.
She said Fractional Flow Reserve – Computed Tomography for heart care is a non-invasive and highly accurate way to find the severity and location of obstruction in diseased and narrowed coronary arteries, with a less than 1 percent chance of missing signs of heart disease.
Mehanna said four mobile imaging centers will travel around Michigan to 30 clinic sites in the first 12 months, beginning with six sites in Wayne County, which has a high rate of cardiac disease and mortality.
She said the test has a less than 1 percent chance of missing coronary artery disease, with better prognosis and outcomes.
Mehanna said testing coronary calcium levels can also predict blocked coronary arteries, which indicates heart attack risk.
She said the target population is those who are underserved, uninsured and under-insured, as well as police officers, firefighters and first responders.
For more information on Corazon’s cardiac imaging, go to corazonimaging.com.