Working in the heart clinic at Mackinac Straits Hospital will be (from left) Dr. Harry Colfer, Jen Jensen, and Dr. Andrew Teklinski. (Photograph courtesy of Mackinac Straits Hospital) Starting Thursday, October 9, St. Ignace's Mackinac Straits Hospital and Health Center will offer many cardiac services on a weekly basis, eliminating the necessity for travel to other cities for such treatment.

The hospital's new heart clinic for the first time will provide cardiac stress tests, with a cardiologist always on site during testing, as well as vascular screening, evaluation, and treatment management. Heart and blood pressure medication also will be offered, along with electrocardiograms and echocardiograms. Medical devices such as pacemakers can be checked during clinic hours, and heart and blood pressure medications can be monitored.

These services will be offered one day a week, on Thursdays, from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m., and provided by two cardiologists from Petoskey, Harry Colfer and Andrew Teklinski. They are in private practice at Petoskey's Cardiology Consultants.

Among other specialty areas, Dr. Colfer has special expertise in such cardiology care as angioplasty, coronary stents, and management of coronary heart disease and congestive heart failure. Dr. Teklinski is trained in invasive and clinical cardiology, which includes cardiac catheterizations, nuclear cardiology, placement of pacemakers, and implantable defibrillators.

Patients may be referred to the Mackinac Straits heart clinic by their physicians, and selfreferrals are also possible.

This service joins outpatient cardiac rehabilitation and pulmonary rehabilitation programs already in place at the hospital.

"Having complete echocardiography is an extra fine touch for a community this size," said Dr. Carl Hawkins, a physician in family practice at Mackinac Straits Hospital.