The guiding principle of the Ventura Heart Institute is that the best treatment of cardiovascular disease is its prevention. The emphasis has always been on wellness and prevention with the ideal care being proactive, rather than reactive, assessment and intervention.  The Ventura Heart Institute's mission is to provide patients with evidence-based strategies for the optimal and cost effective assessment and management of cardiovascular risks.

Our last free public education program, "Heart Disease; Prevention and Treatment", was held on Saturday morning, 21 February 2009, at the Spanish Hills Country Club in Camarillo, California.  As in the past, this program was fully enrolled with about 300 attendees.  The responses to our prior Symposia have been spectacularly positive with accolades to the faculties and content.  We will continue to strive to provide up-to-date information on heart and vascular disease to the public and our colleagues in future programs.  Watch this site for our schedule of our next symposium. 

We believe that lifestyle modifications with proper nutrition, weight management, exercise and judicious use of appropriate medications used to expert-guided standards provide patients the greatest probability of a good outcome.  We provide cardiovascular screening for risk assessment, education programs and clinical research protocols in our quest to provide the most up-to-date options for our patients.  The American Heart Association updated its guidelines for prevention of heart disease in women.  You can download a copy of the complete recommendations by clicking here or clicking on the summary in Dr. Loh's Second Opinion column on the subject.

You may access Dr. Loh's prior Second Opinion newspaper columns and editorials by clicking on the link at the top of this page entitled "Second Opinion Columns".  You may contact Dr. Loh by e-mail by clicking here.

One important suggestion on the role of prevention is the Advance Healthcare Directive brought into tragic focus by the officious intermeddling of Congress.  The autonomy of the individual should overide political agendas.  Click the link above to learn what steps one can take to prevent a dignified end-of-life decision from becoming a legal circus.