The caring team of professionals at Cardiology Associates includes: Ayman A. Alshami, M.D., FACC; Ricki Fram, M.D.; and Nicholas Willis, M.D. If you have a concern, talk to your primary care physician about a referral.
Alonzo “Bubba” Pettigrew is a life-long resident of Pine Bluff and well-known employee of Trotter Ford. Bubba talks with slow rhythm and a smile, and his jovial attitude is not easily forgotten. You can expect to hear Bubba laughing, talking about cars, Golden Lion football and his health.
Bubba remembers the night he had a heart attack well. He said he was smoking a cigarette on a Friday night when he began to have chest pains. As the night went on, he began to feel worse and began throwing up.
He initially refused to go to the JRMC Emergency Room when his wife found him. “Finally, four hours later,” he said, “after throwing up my guts – I said ‘baby, you better take me out there.’”
Bubba described a very quick admission into the hospital when he arrived. “Once I got here to the Emergency Room, they whisked me into the facility. And the next thing I knew, it was Monday and I was leaving.”
Bubba had suffered a heart attack, and his wife and daughter were taking him home from the hospital when he realized things could have ended quite differently for him. “That’s when the care from the hospital really overwhelmed me,” he said. “I sure was grateful for JRMC. I felt nobody else could have done any better, and I’m completely, completely satisfied.”
Bubba said he was stunned that he was able to go back to work in a week’s time. “I have not missed a beat since,” he said.
One reason for his quick recovery is Bubba’s Cardiologist, Nicholas Willis, M.D. of JRMC Cardiology Associates of South Arkansas. “I don’t like Dr. Willis, I love him,” Bubba said. “He’s the man in my book.”
Since the heart attack, Dr. Willis has worked with Bubba to improve his health. “During our follow-up visit, Dr. Willis and I had a very good conversion,” Bubba said. “He discussed at length my habits, the things that I like and don’t like, and how we could mingle these things into a lifestyle that he could live with, and I could too.”
Bubba said his experience made him proud of both JRMC and Dr. Willis. “To be in a situation like this and to come out the way that I came out? It lets me know that this facility, and my doctor are really ‘ace high’ in their care for me,” he said. “I attribute the health that I have right now — and I’m satisfied with my health — to JRMC and the doctors and staff at JRMC.”
Bubba said he is himself again, working with much younger men and women and holding his own. He has drastically changed his eating habits, stopped smoking and makes exercise a priority. When football season rolls around, you can be sure to find him at Golden Lion Stadium on the 40-yard line, three rows up from the field, behind the defensive bench, cheering on UAPB football players.
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