Love Your Heart: A Guide for Older Adults This American Heart Month

February is American Heart Month, a crucial time for older adults to prioritize their cardiovascular health. At eternalHealth, we understand that maintaining a healthy heart becomes increasingly important as we age, and we’re committed to supporting your journey toward better heart health.

The Critical Importance of Heart Health in Your Golden Years

Heart health demands special attention as we age, with cardiovascular disease affecting nearly half of Americans over 65. This statistic might sound scary, but there’s encouraging news: even modest lifestyle changes can significantly improve your heart health. Research shows that it’s never too late to make positive changes that benefit your cardiovascular system.

Key Heart Health Benefits with eternalHealth

Your Medicare Advantage plan includes valuable services to support your heart health:

  • Annual Wellness Visit: Schedule your no-cost visit with your primary care physician and receive a $10 reward on your eternalPlus Benefits Card for over-the-counter items and if eligible, healthy groceries*. These visits are crucial for monitoring your heart’s health and catching potential issues early.
  • Comprehensive Screening Services: Take advantage of free blood pressure screenings at your local pharmacies, along with other preventive services designed to keep your heart healthy and strong.
  • Fitness and Wellness Support: Use your eternalHealth fitness benefit to join exercise classes at your favorite fitness facilities or stream over 28,000 fitness videos right from the comfort of home. Regular physical activity is essential for maintaining a healthy heart.

Critical Warning Signs to Watch For

Don’t hesitate to seek immediate medical attention if you experience:

  • Chest Discomfort: Any pressure, squeezing, or pain in your chest that lasts more than a few minutes or comes and goes requires immediate attention.
  • Breathing Issues: Unexplained shortness of breath, especially when accompanied by other symptoms, could indicate a serious heart condition.
  • Unusual Symptoms: Watch for unexpected fatigue, dizziness, cold sweats, or nausea – particularly if they occur with other heart-related symptoms.

Comprehensive Support Services

At eternalHealth, our mission is to break down barriers to care to ensure you lead a happy and healthy life. We make managing your heart health easier with:

  • Transportation: Free rides to medical appointments and the pharmacy ensure you never miss important check-ups,procedures or medications.
  • Medication Management: Home delivery for important medications so you never have to worry about missing a dose or waiting in long lines at the pharmacy.
  • Personalized Care: Access to care managers who can help coordinate your healthcare needs and arrange appointments with specialists when needed.

Remember, investing in your heart health is investing in your future. Our dedicated team stands ready to support you in achieving optimal cardiovascular health and overall wellness.

Contact our member services team to better understand your benefits or to schedule time with a care manager.

1-800-680-4568 (TTY 711)


October 1st-March 31st: 8AM-8PM local time, 7 days a week
April 1st-September 30th: 8AM-8PM local time, Monday-Friday

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eternalHealth is an HMO plan with a Medicare Contract for HMO, HMO-POS and PPO offerings. Enrollment in eternalHealth depends on contract renewal. To enroll in an eternalHealth plan you must meet certain eligibility requirements and reside in the plan’s CMS-approved service area. Benefits and cost sharing may vary by plan.

*The benefit/s mentioned is/are part of a special supplemental program for the chronically ill.Qualifying conditions include Cardiovascular disorders, diabetes, chronic and disabling mental health conditions, cancer, and ESRD. Having a listed condition does not guarantee

Page Last Updated On: January 31, 2025
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Tom Cunniffe

Tom Cunniffe

Director of Operations 

Tom Cunniffe comes to eternalHealth with over 20 years of healthcare operations’ experience, having held leadership positions in Call Center, Enrollment, Credentialing, UAT and Reimbursement teams. Tom has worked with Medicaid, Commercial and Medicare lines of business and has consistently built teams who are metrics driven with proven successful outcomes. Making sure our business strives for an efficient, best-in-class customer experience is at the center of Tom’s philosophy.

Tom has a bachelor’s degree from Fordham University and a master’s in business administration from University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Tom Lawless

Tom Lawless

Chief Financial Officer

Tom Lawless has spent the past 20+ years building, sustaining, and growing new healthcare-related programs that balance fiscal responsibility & prudence with creativity & innovation, focusing on models of care that are novel, person-centered, and improve the social welfare of those who are served. He is very excited to continue doing so in his role as the Chief Financial Officer of eternalHealth.

Tom comes to eternalHealth from a not-for-profit, member-centric, health insurance cooperative. He helped the company continuously strive toward its dual goals of thriving financially, while keeping members at the very epicenter of its mission and service model. While there, Tom also spearheaded the creation of a brand new private, charitable foundation, which will be meaningfully giving back to those in need in the surrounding communities for years to come. Previously, Tom worked in the finance department of a successful hospice that provided high-quality care to persons experiencing their unique and poignant end-of-life journeys, assuring that the appropriate financing was always available. Tom’s career began as a civil servant in the Wisconsin Medicaid program, where he helped to create a program that expanded the institutional entitlement to care into home and community-based settings. Starting with only a blueprint in hand, the program now serves more than 57,000 frail elders and disabled adults and is considered a national model. Growing into a senior leadership role, Tom was a key architect of an innovative financing model, through which the public and private sectors successfully collaborated to better the lives of persons in great need.

Tom holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Chicago, with additional graduate work in economics completed at the University Wisconsin-Madison.

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