April 18, 2022
Dale Templeton has been a member of Kaiser Permanente since 1973. A retired firefighter and emergency medical technician — having served the greater Sacramento community for 28 years — Templeton is very familiar with the symptoms of a heart attack. That’s why he contacted his primary care physician, Rodger Siemens, MD, at the Kaiser Permanente South Sacramento Medical Center when he recognized the symptoms.
“I began feeling this pressure, and it was textbook for having a heart attack,” recalled Templeton when describing the symptoms he had back in early 2020. The symptoms went away temporarily but returned about 24 hours later. “This was no longer something I could ignore. We were going to have to look at this, and I called my doctor.”
Once Templeton called, Dr. Siemens immediately got him in for a series of tests, including a stress test that came back abnormal. Later that same day, Templeton had a Cardiology appointment where it was determined he needed a coronary angiogram.
“We found a very high-grade blockage in one of his very important arteries,” explained Peter Mohr, MD, Interventional Cardiology, who performed the coronary angiogram procedure to restore proper blood flow for Templeton. “The procedure is remarkably easy, especially since we went through the wrist. Patients can get up and walk around a few hours later.”
