![\"Donald](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/bequest-300x272.jpg\")
\u201cI am very grateful to the Reefes for their support and generosity,\u201d says UConn School of Medicine Dean Dr. Bruce T. Liang. \u201cI am proud of our cardiologists, providers, and researchers who bring cutting edge medical advances to benefit our patients\u201d.<\/p>\n
Life-Saving and Compassionate Care<\/strong><\/p>\n Reefe knew something was wrong when he awoke one morning and felt pressure in his chest following an intense dizzy spell the night before. He called 911 and was rushed to the emergency room at UConn Health. Dr. Michael A. Azrin led the care team.<\/p>\n \u201cDr. Azrin came in and knew right away what was going on,\u201d Reefe explains. \u201cI don\u2019t know how he determined it so quickly. I remember him saying the stent I needed was available and then I went right to the catheterization lab. It couldn\u2019t have been more than 20 minutes from when I first arrived.<\/p>\n “I looked at the doctor, he looked at me, and I had that almost overwhelming feeling that I was in good hands. I trusted him.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey are very in tune with the patient and the family, which you don\u2019t see everywhere,\u201d Jean Reefe adds. \u201cThe doctor came up to me after and we had a real conversation. I never had a feeling they weren\u2019t listening to us.\u201d<\/p>\n Recognizing and Preventing Heart Disease<\/strong><\/p>\n Heart disease, especially heart attack and stroke, is the leading cause of death in both men and women in the U.S. Don\u2019t ever ignore or delay emergency care for these\u00a0heart attack warning signs:<\/p>\n Sudden chest pain, heaviness, or tightness\/squeezing Dr. Maxwell Eder, assistant professor of cardiology in the School of Medicine, advises\u00a0three ways to prevent heart disease.<\/p>\n First,\u00a0eat a daily diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and high in fiber.<\/p>\n Second,\u00a0stay active\u00a0weekly with brisk walking or other vigorous exercise.\u00a0The official recommendation for exercise by the American Heart Association (AHA) is 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity per week with strength training two days per week.<\/p>\n Lastly,\u00a0don\u2019t ever smoke, or quit smoking now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Donald and Jean Reefe\u2019s bequest will support technology, education, and research at the Pat and Jim Calhoun Cardiology Center<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":222902,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1969,2472,2231,1868,2235,179],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[1902],"class_list":["post-226551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cardiology","category-gifts-donors","category-health-well-being","category-meds","category-today-homepage","category-uconn-health"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-30 23:56:48","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226551"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226551\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":226553,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226551\/revisions\/226553"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/222902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226551"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=226551"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=226551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nShortness of breath
\nSweating or lightheadedness
\nDizziness
\nNausea
\nIndigestion, heartburn, or an esophageal burning sensation.<\/p>\n