Allina Health

Offered by United Heart & Vascular Clinic, the east metro’s leading group of cardiologists, MAP³ is a prevention clinic that will help you answer the following questions:

• How can I prevent health problems – especially heart attack and stroke?
• What can I do to improve my health?

A complete picture of your health

Certain serious health conditions can be greatly reduced – or even prevented – if you adopt a few basic preventive health habits.

With MAP³ you’ll get a complete picture of your health by meeting with a cardiologist, nutritionist and exercise physiologist.

Our experts will help you make choices to improve your health. And, we’ll help you stay on track to a healthier tomorrow.

Courtney Baechler, MD,
Medical director of MAP³ Clinic

First appointment

An experienced team will evaluate your health, led by a cardiologist who is specially trained in preventive health care. At your first appointment, you’ll meet with these specialists:

• Preventive cardiologist – 40-minute appointment to focus on how to be as healthy as possible. Risk factor assessment, review of your cardiovascular (CV) and medical history, lab tests and CV physical.
  • Courtney Baechler, MD, MS, Medical director of MAP³ Clinic
  • Nazifa Sajady, MD
  • Elizabeth Tuohy, MD
• Nutritionist – 60-minute in-depth evaluation of your eating patterns and how to eat to feel well.
• Exercise physiologist – 30-minute session to assess your activity level and how to maximize it. No exercise test.

Your appointment will last about 2-1/2 hours. Additional blood analysis or CV imaging will be available, if needed.

Assessment

Next, the cardiologist, nutritionist, and exercise physiologist will prepare an assessment of your clinical data and health risk.

At your second appointment, you’ll meet with a nurse practitioner to discuss the assessment. Based on this personalized information, you’ll decide on goals to reduce your risks and improve your health.

Referrals will be provided for any medical issues that are discovered and require follow-up.

Stay on track

As you make changes to improve your health, the MAP³ staff will support you.

MAP³ offers these tools to make progress toward your goals:

• Online interactive program
• Exercise coaching
• Additional nutrition counseling

MAP³ is offered at United Heart & Vascular Clinic on the United Hospital campus in St. Paul.

Nasseff Specialty Center
225 North Smith Ave., Suite 400
St. Paul, MN 55102
651-292-0007

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MAP³ clinic 'focused on me as a whole person

Lori Anderson-Tepley knows from experience that it’s better to prevent heaShe sought out a new clinic that focuses on prevention, especially heart disease and stroke. The clinic, My Assessment and Personal Prevention Program (MAP3), is part of United Heart & Vascular Clinic (UHVC) at United Hospital in St. Paul.lth problems than to deal with them later. Anderson-Tepley, 56, has type 1 diabetes and other health problems that stem from it.

Participants get a complete picture of their health by meeting with a preventive cardiologist, nutritionist and exercise physiologist. Then they choose specific steps to improve their health.

“The whole emphasis was how to improve what I’m doing,” said Anderson-Tepley, who’s from St. Louis Park. “When you can do something before a problem happens, that’s powerful. The clinic gave me some new tools to work with.” She was so impressed that she referred her husband, who had an appointment several months ago.

Her first appointment was with Courtney Baechler, MD, MS, a specialist in preventive cardiology and the MAP³ clinic medical director at UHVC. Baechler also serves as vice president of the Penny George™ Institute for Health and Healing, part of Allina Health.

They discussed the complexities of Anderson-Tepley’s health, focusing on her child-onset diabetes and related problems. Diabetes often leads to heart disease, so Anderson-Tepley and her family doctor watch her cholesterol closely. Her doctor suggested she start a statin medicine to reduce her cholesterol.

Anderson-Tepley asked for Baechler’s advice, so they discussed several options to lower her cholesterol, including a nutritional supplement. “I’m hoping that with the right diet and exercise, I can avoid medication,” Anderson-Tepley said. For now, they’re watching her cholesterol levels.

Baechler also recommended that Anderson-Tepley have a heart scan, which showed her there was no cholesterol buildup in the coronary arteries.

Nutritionist Maureen Doran suggested ways to modify food groups in her diet because a medically restricted diet prevents her from eating fresh fruits and vegetables. Anderson-Tepley said she learned some new foods that fit well in her diet, such as nut butters for protein and a main dish of mashed potatoes and squash.

With exercise physiologist Kim Seibert, Anderson-Tepley discussed walking as her main form of exercise. Seibert urged her to walk more when she could and add regular exercises for strength and flexibility. Anderson-Tepley uses a MAP³ online resource to do the exercises at home.

She appreciates that the clinic “focused on me as a whole person. That’s critical to me. I need to own this and follow through. I also felt very safe, because they covered every aspect of my health risks. When I left the clinic, I felt that I could make some changes and feel better overall.”