TMH helps Perry woman recover from ‘broken heart’ after Hurricane Idalia
Hurricane Idalia will be one of those storms that we talk about for decades to come. The devastating storm surge and sustained winds wreaked havoc in rural communities of the Big Bend of Florida, with wind speeds reaching at least 125 miles per hour at landfall in Taylor County.
But for 38-year-old Jean Padgett of Perry, Hurricane Idalia’s arrival marked two significant events in her life. In the span of 48 hours, she lost her home and many of her belongings.
Jean, who is by all accounts healthy and strong, also suffered a stress-induced cardiac event, similar to a heart attack, that’s commonly known as “broken heart syndrome,” a potentially life-threatening condition.
Working together, experienced clinicians at Doctors’ Memorial Hospital (DMH) in Perry and at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare (TMH) in Tallahassee provided Jean the emergency care and ongoing treatment she needed to rebuild after the storm.
Perry takes a direct hit
Jean had lived in Florida her whole life, but Idalia was the first storm to make her panic. Although she was safe in a shelter at church, she worried about her home and her community. Located just 15 miles north of where Idalia made landfall on August 30, 2023, Perry was one of the hardest hit communities.
Once the storm passed, Jean received a call from her father-in-law, Taylor County Sheriff Wayne Padgett, as he began making his rounds through the community.
“Oh my God, it’s gone … It’s all gone,” he said.
“What’s gone? What all is gone?” she asked nervously. “The barn, the camper, everything. Everything is gone,” he replied.
Jean Padgett surveys the land where her new pole barn home was being built, standing beside wooden beams that were ripped from the concrete foundation. (Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare)
Several years ago, Jean and her husband, Josh, sold their house and downsized to a 31-foot camper while slowly building a pole barn house on their new property.
But now, it was gone – the storm took all of it.
Once Jean was able to survey the damage, it felt surreal looking at her home twisted apart, her belongings scattered haphazardly across the land.
And yet, Jean felt blessed. “If we had chosen to stay, I probably wouldn’t be here,” she said. “It’s just stuff. We can buy it again.”
Jean and Josh moved in next door with her in-laws, where they are full-time residents now until their home is rebuilt.
Despite having lost her home and all her belongings, Jean turned her attention to the community. As she saw it, she was better off than many others because she still had a roof over her head. Her husband and father-in-law worked on getting a tractor to start clearing the roads, while she checked on her neighbors, friends and coworkers.
Nobody had power, and she was worried about how the rest of her community had fared. Turning thoughts into action, Jean spent that evening and the next morning locating loved ones and collecting and distributing supplies.
Two months after Hurricane Idalia destroyed her camper, Jean Padgett stands among the remnants. (Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare)
Something wasn’t right
The day following the storm, Jean was on her feet in the hot, muggy weather for hours distributing supplies when she began to feel a little uneasy. There was a sharp pain in her back, but she assumed she pinched a nerve while loading and unloading supplies. Then, her arms and hands started to tingle. She figured she was overheated and dehydrated.
When her chest started to feel heavy, she wondered if she might be having a panic attack.
As a former first responder, Jean was trained in recognizing emergency health events. She was familiar with the signs and symptoms of strokes, heart attacks and other life-threatening conditions, and she was not immediately concerned that she was experiencing any of those.
She eats healthfully, takes vitamins, doesn’t drink, exercises and has routinely good bloodwork. However, as her uneasy feelings intensified, Jean began to worry she might be having a heart attack. She asked her friend to drive her to Doctors’ Memorial Hospital, a rural hospital affiliate of Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare.
Shocking news for Jean
Ironically, Jean works at DMH in a non-clinical role as a Patient Account Representative. While the hospital had access to power through generators, the staff had no access to medical records, so Jean verbally shared her health history upon arrival to the emergency room.
The DMH team quickly performed an electrocardiogram (ECG), at which point Jeffery Davenport, MD, Medical Director of Emergency Medicine at DMH, told her she was facing a cardiac event and needed to be sent straight to TMH for further evaluation and treatment. Due to residual storm weather, she had to be transported by ambulance instead of helicopter. Jean knew this was serious.
Jeffery Davenport (right), MD, Medical Director of Emergency Medicine at DMH, stands with Jean Padgett (left) outside the Emergency Room at Doctor’s Memorial Hospital in Perry.
Healing a ‘broken heart’
As Jean was wheeled into the Bixler Trauma & Emergency Center at TMH, she began to cry as she thought of her grandfather, who passed away from a massive heart attack at the age of 66. However, she soon felt at ease under the care of the ER nursing team and Andres Vargas, MD, TMH Physician Partners, Services by Southern Medical Group (SMG).
Dr. Vargas quickly took her to the cardiac catheterization lab and determined that her coronary arteries were not obstructed, which is usually the cause of a heart attack.
Instead, Dr. Vargas explained Jean’s diagnosis as Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, also known as “broken heart syndrome.”
“This condition can cause rapid and reversive heart muscle weakness, also known as stress induced cardiomyopathy,” said Dr. Vargas. “When you experience a stressful event, your body produces hormones and proteins, such as adrenaline, that are meant to help cope with the stress. These substances can overwhelm the heart muscle when produced in a massive amount.”
Studies have shown that cases of the condition are on the rise, and it is particularly common in women, especially those who have recently suffered the loss of a loved one or experienced a natural disaster. An ultrasound of Jean’s heart showed significantly reduced performance due to under functioning of her lower heart muscle, but there was no evidence of any blockage in her arteries.
Jean’s condition was likely induced by the stress of the storm, of losing her house and of working to support her community.
“I didn’t even think I was that stressed,” she said. “There’s a lot going on in my life, but everybody’s got a lot. I guess that’s why they say stress is the silent killer, because it can sneak up on you and take the wind out from your sails.”
The good news, said Dr. Vargas, is that full heart muscle recovery is almost always achieved with treatment from an experienced cardiac team.
“Our cardiology group is prepared to treat this and other cardiac conditions with top notch diagnostic modalities and a well-equipped multispecialty team including general, interventional and structural cardiologists as well as an electrophysiology team.”
Although Jean was eager to get home, she stayed overnight at the hospital for observation before being discharged the following day. She remained on bed rest for the next 10 days, and then returned to work on “light duty.”
Jean recovers with TMH
Every two weeks, Jean visits TMH Physician Partners, Services by SMG, to check in at the Heart Failure Clinic. Here, they assess the strength of her heart walls as she makes her way toward recovery, which could be several months.
Jean Padgett stands outside of Doctor’s Memorial Hospital at the ambulance bay. Jean visited Doctor’s Memorial the day after the hurricane where the ER team discovered she was having a cardiac event.
In the meantime, Jean is appreciative of the support her family and friends have provided, and she looks forward to getting back on her feet and rebuilding her home. She is grateful for the excellent teams at both DMH in Perry and TMH in Tallahassee who made her comfortable throughout her evaluation and treatment and gave her confidence in her recovery.
“I would never have thought I would have a heart attack,” Jean said, “but pay attention to your body and seek help immediately if something’s off. Women especially tend to care for others but ignore themselves, so be observant of your symptoms and don’t just assume you’ll be fine – it can save your life!”
At Tallahassee Memorial, you and your heart have access to one of the most advanced heart and vascular programs in the Southeast. Our cardiovascular physicians perform more complex procedures and clinical research than any other program in our region. From Cardio-Oncology to Heart Surgery and everything in between, there’s no need to go anywhere else for advanced cardiovascular care.
Learn what TMH can do for your heart at TMH.ORG/Heart.
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