Concierge Medicine Helps Dancer with Off-Beat Heart Get Back in the Swing of Life

Lauren Faulkner is waltzing through life again, enjoying good health and her passion for ballroom dancing after a scare that almost changed everything.

The 73-year-old South Florida resident credits Cleveland Clinic Florida’s Concierge Medicine program, and Stephen Avallone, MD, for her second chance at life.

In March of 2023, Lauren was at one of her several-times-weekly ballroom dancing practices preparing for an upcoming competition. She had taken up ballroom dancing in 2016 and had worked her way up to a competitive level. She said she suddenly felt “quite winded” and her right arm ached, causing her to sit down and rest. This happened several times during the practice and concerned her. When she didn’t feel better the next day, she called Dr. Avallone, Regional Medical Director for Cleveland Clinic Florida’s Concierge Medicine Program. He had been her primary care doctor for about 10 years. Lauren was able to get in to see Dr. Avallone right away.

“When I got there my pulse was in the 30s and, apparently, my EKG results were alarming,” she says.

Dr. Avallone told Lauren she needed to go to the hospital right away. Once there, additional testing showed that she was in total heart block – a condition in which the electrical signal that controls your heartbeat is completely blocked.  Doctors implanted an emergency pacemaker that evening.

Lauren with concierge medicine Dr. Avallone. (Courtesy: Cleveland Clinic)

“If it hadn’t been for Concierge Medicine I probably would not have survived,” Lauren says.

“The key features of the program are the time and availability of your healthcare team,” Dr. Avallone says. “The patient and doctor are more directly connected, and we can build better relationships. Doctors and medical staff are reachable all day every day by phone or electronically through the MyChart app and electronic medical record. It’s a great way to practice medicine.”

Healthcare providers in the Concierge Medicine program help to facilitate appointments and specialty care for their patients both in the Cleveland Clinic network and beyond. They also can offer point-of-care testing for such things as COVID-19, strep and the flu, as well as EKG tests and in-office patient monitoring for short periods of time.

Lauren is doing well and says that signing up for the Concierge Medicine program was the “best decision I ever made.”

“The expedited appointments with Dr. Avallone and the time he gives you is all the time you need. You have ample time to talk about your medical needs and your general lifestyle.
He and his team are there as partners in your health,” Lauren says.

Dr. Avallone says one of the major advantages of Concierge Medicine is the time physicians have to spend with their patients.

“Patients and their healthcare team getting to know each other makes a world of difference when you’re trying to help people achieve the best level of health that they can,” he says. “It’s a very respectful and mutually beneficial arrangement between the doctor and healthcare team and the patients they serve. It’s a wonderful way to receive and provide care.”