Mooresville Hospital offers free screenings for peripheral vascular disease

MOORESVILLE, Ind. – If you have poor circulation in your legs, causing pain when you walk or stand, it could be a sign of peripheral vascular disease (PVD), a condition that puts you at high risk for heart disease and stroke.

With PVD, the vessels that carry blood to the arms and legs become narrowed or clogged, interfering with the normal flow of blood, sometimes causing pain. Often, however, a person may experience no serious symptoms but still have PVD.

That’s why St. Francis Hospital & Health Centers is again participating in Legs for Life, a free screening program for PVD. The screening will be 7 a.m. to noon, Saturday, Sept. 27, from 7 a.m. to noon. This year, the screening is at St. Francis Hospital-Mooresville, 1201 Hadley Road, just off State Road 67.

Indianapolis area residents may register for a free screening through the St. Francis Cardiac Screening Center, located at the Heart Center, 8111 E. Emerson Ave. Appointments are being accepted on several dates in September and October.

To qualify for the free screening, participants must be 50 or older, not currently under the care of a cardiologist or vascular surgeon and must not have attended a St. Francis Legs for Life screening during the past five years unless their symptoms have changed.

Symptoms of PVD include:
· Leg or hip pain when walking but stops when resting
· Numbness, tingling or weakness in legs
· Burning or aching pain in feet or toes when resting
· Sore on leg or foot that won’t heal
· Cold legs or feet
· Color change in skin of legs or feet
· Loss of hair on legs

Registration is required for screenings at both the Mooresville and Indianapolis campuses. To make an appointment, call 317-782-4422, or toll free at 877-888-1777.