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I can't give a precise date, but you might compare what a homeless person would get for a heart attack in 2014 with what Eisenhower got for his heart attack in 1955.



I think that a lot of the advances in treating heart disease have to do with preventing a heart attack in the first place by recognizing what risk factors a person has and having them change their lifestyle and take medications such as statins. Improvements in the area of prevention are going to be difficult for a homeless person to access since they require the ability to visit a primary care doctor, get medication and make lifestyle changes. It's pretty hard to eat healthy if you're on a very tight budget for food and don't have access to a kitchen.

The treatment that a homeless person gets when they actually have a heart attack may be better since they would presumably have access to a defibrillator in an ER.


Maybe for immediate, urgent care, but definitely not for recuperation or follow-up.


Eisenhower's recuperation was "spend six months in bed." It looks pretty sad from here.




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