SHASTA COUNTY, Calif. -- Staff at Shasta Regional Medical Center (SRMC) are educating the community on atrial fibrillation, also known as AFib, during AFib Awareness Month.
People with the heart condition have a quivering or irregular heartbeat, which can result in heart failure, blood clots, or a stroke.
SRMC representatives said AFib puts you at a five times greater risk of stroke. For about a year, they've been offering the Watchman procedure as another treatment option for patients.
"In Northern California, such as Redding, we actually are now starting to do these procedures here, and it allows a lot of those outlying areas not to have to travel nearly as far," Raven Stackley, a nurse at SRMC, said.
Shasta Regional Medical Center Interventional Cardiologist Dr. Aazib Khan said of the procedure, "We go in and try to close off or seal off that appendage so that way, even if you form blood clots, they can't get out to the body and cause strokes."
Their team said, that by 2030, it's predicted that over 12 million people will have the condition. Triggers like high blood pressure, obesity, or heart disease can increase your chances of getting AFib.
Dr. Khan old KRCR working on improving those risk factors will help prevent it from developing.
If you think you have AFib, he recommends talking to your healthcare provider about your symptoms so you can find the right treatment.