Let’s take care of your heart

Navigating a new medical diagnosis, it can be overwhelming for anybody. Allina Health's Minneapolis Heart Institute launched a new tool to make it easier on its patients.

It's called the Take Heart app, and Ginna Roe spoke with one of the doctors who developed it.

Doctors at Allina know when their patients come in for a heart procedure they're often scared, confused, stressed. Well, a new app is helping take some of that pressure off, putting all that must-need info right at your fingertips. The app is called Take Heart.

Dr. Steven Bradley and his team at Allina's Heart Institute saw a need. He says, "We have a lot of technology that helps in our daily lives, but not a lot that helps us when it comes to our own health." That's what this app does. It stores patient's health information on their phone and helps walk them through their procedure.

So it pops up and reminds them that because of these medications and the procedure they're about to have, that they need to hold that medication at this time. Or, for a lot of procedures, we need to make sure that they haven't had anything to eat or drink for a certain period of time before the procedure, so again it pops up and reminds them.

The app has links to information, what to expect before, during, and after their procedure, and answers commonly asked questions. And it's completely free. Dr. Bradley says he hopes this new app helps patients understand what's happening with their health and eases stress so they can focus on staying healthy. Reporting in the newsroom, Ginna Roe, 5 Eyewitness News.