Heart of a Tiger: After health scare, lawyer Jeff Schoen is a new man

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Tuesday, April 30, 2024

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Heart of a Tiger: After health scare, lawyer Jeff Schoen is a new man

Mike Scott, mscott@stph.org

Lawyer Jeff Schoen is photographed in February 2024 in his Covington office. A year and a half after experiencing a heart attack, he is a changed man, thanks to lessons learned during a round of cardio rehab at St. Tammany Health System. ‘I enjoy the rehab element, I enjoy the physicality of it. I enjoy the other patients who are going through what I’m going through,’ he said. ‘… Maybe most importantly, getting to know that staff in that cardio rehab unit was really something that meant a lot to me.’ (Photo by Tim San Fillippo / STHS)

Jeff Schoen is no stranger to St. Tammany Health System.

He’s lived in Covington his whole life. His family has been on the Northshore for some 150 years. As a managing partner in the local Jones Fussell law firm, he has even done legal work for the health system.

So, when the then-70-year-old woke up at 5:30 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving 2022 with severe chest pains – “like an LSU linebacker was just pushing down with his foot on my chest” – he knew what to do.

Rather than driving himself to the hospital, which experts strongly advise against, he alerted his wife, who loaded him into the car.

“And off we went to St. Tammany, which has always been my hospital of choice for a lifetime when I needed some type of medical care and help,” he said.

There, he knew, he would get world-class healthcare upon his arrival.

What he didn’t expect was a life-changing experience.  

“(It) was very remarkable and quite frankly saved my life – and continues to inspire me every day to be maybe a better patient, and post-patient, than I would be otherwise,” the LSU die-hard said in February, surrounded by a mini-museum of Tigers memorabilia in his Covington-area office.

“It helped me rehab my heart,” he added, “but it also helped me rehab my soul.”

Only the beginning

When Mr. Schoen arrived at the hospital, he said, two hospital staffers were waiting for him with a wheelchair.

Industry standards push hospitals to have chest-pain patients hooked up to an EKG machine, measuring their heart rhythm, in fewer than 10 minutes after their arrival. St. Tammany Parish Hospital averages fewer than four minutes. 

In Mr. Schoen’s case, it was even quicker.

“Once I identified myself upon exiting the vehicle, I’m immediately in the wheelchair, off to triage,” he said. “I mean, these things happened immediately.”

After his care provider confirmed he was, indeed, having a heart attack, Mr. Schoen soon found himself in the hospital’s heart catheterization lab, undergoing a procedure to address multiple blockages.

Thankfully, everything went well, and he was soon sent home to begin his recovery.

And that’s where his personal transformation really started.

With the scary part over and Mr. Schoen out of the woods medically speaking, he was ready to get back to his busy schedule.

“I’m sort of thinking you go back to life now and pick up where you left off,” he said.

But that’s not how it works.

It helped me rehab my heart, but it also helped me rehab my soul.”

-- Covington lawyer Jeff Schoen

A new man

When he was rolled into the Emergency Department that November morning, Mr. Schoen’s heart was functioning at just 33%, his cardiologist told him. If he wanted to continue enjoying a full, active life, he was going to have to attend regular cardiovascular rehabilitation sessions to rebuild his heart muscle.

Mr. Schoen embraced the challenge, fully committing to his thrice-weekly workouts.

That’s how he learned he had an inner gym rat he never knew existed.

“It became a pattern that I actually looked forward to, because I enjoyed the rehab,” he said. “It actually made me feel better. The further testing showed that my heart was getting stronger as a result of it. I was able to lose some pounds that I had not been able to lose for many years by going to rehab.”

He decided to attend his gym appointments in lieu of going out to lunch, which gave him the added benefit of removing the gastronomic temptation presented by local menus.

But, to his surprise, there was more to it than that.

“What I didn’t realize was that by becoming a member of that cardio rehab ‘club,’ you not only make friends with the other patients that are there – because you see a lot of the same people at the same time on the same days, so you have buddies next to you – but you also get to know the staff,” Mr. Schoen said, adding, “All of a sudden, I have all these best friends at cardio rehab.”

He found himself so dreading the day he would “graduate” from rehab that he joined a local private gym for the first time in his life, to continue his journey toward good health. As of early 2024, he had dropped 55 pounds and still goes to the gym regularly.

The experience has changed his life so profoundly that he welcomed the opportunity to share his story, if only to inspire others experiencing a similar situation.

“It might educate others,” he said, “it might motivate others, it might encourage others to realize we’ve got a world-class healthcare facility in our community that has a specialized cardio rehab unit with wonderful people that work there that can help people just like me every day and in every way and with the utmost professionalism and care – but also, as I said earlier, with that feeling of love and respect and encouragement.

“Because that’s not something you find in life all the time.” 


Learn more about St. Tammany Health System's Cardiovascular Rehabilitation program at www.sttammany.health/Cardiac_Pulmonary_Rehab 

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