Heart Month Launch 2024
Our presenters didn’t skip a beat!
OUR EXCITING Heart Month Press Launch kicked off on January 25, 2024, on the grounds of the Terra Nova All Suite Hotel.
The most anticipated section of our Media Launch were the messages from the presenters; who were charged to deliver the key messages, who will left nuggets of wisdom, who impregnated the audience with a wealth of Knowledge, who generated roars of laughter out of the room and who left us feeling lighter and more inspired to improve on our heart Health for the month of February and beyond.
Here are some highlights from our presenters:
A HEARTY WELCOME! ‘PREVENT HEART FAILURE, GET SCREENED, KEEP THE BEAT!’
Dr Wong welcomed the Pavilion Suite Guests at the Heart Month Press Launch 2024, under the theme “Prevent Heart Failure, Get Screened, Keep the Beat!”
‘GET REGULAR SCREENING’
Dr Spence emphasised the importance of screening/health checks; “too many Jamaicans are unaware of their conditions and are engaging in behaviours likely to increase their risk of NCDs. NCDs often take years to develop and cause symptoms, therefore many persons live with an NCD and are unaware that they have one until they are diagnosed in its advanced stage. Regular health checks help to reduce the risk of developing these conditions and their complications by identifying risk factors that make persons more likely to develop major NCDs and detecting potential health problems early.”
Screening offers the most cost-effective opportunity for the health care system to identify disease at a stage when treatment is more effective and long-term complications can be delayed or avoided.
The #KnowYourNumbers! initiative focuses on getting Jamaicans to screen at least once each year to know their health status and what they need to do to modify their behaviour to reduce illness and premature mortality. This is to provide Jamaicans with the opportunity to know what they are vulnerable to and what they need to do to correct this through lifestyle changes.
Screening will become a routine operating procedure through our primary healthcare renewal programme, particularly our life-stage approach. This means, once you enter a facility for any concern or examination, you will be offered age-appropriate health screening.
We will partner with community leaders and
civic groups; we will plan and execute community outreach to support screening, targeting the most vulnerable and at-risk populations throughout our country. These include people living in remote, difficult, underserved, and unreached areas, to assess and provide management for illness.
‘FACTORS LEADING TO THE RISKS OF NCDS’
The scary part of my job is when I encounter fit-looking people. Some are thin and hardworking, and some are muscular construction workers who turn up because of family pressure, a nagging spouse, the need for a job, or to obtain an immigrant Visa. Men often visit the office because of pain somewhere. Many people believe that they cannot become hypertensive unless they are stressed out. And many erroneously believe that a headache is an accurate barometer for hypertension. However, sometimes people who feel just great have blood pressures as high as 260/120! Some turn out to be diabetic or hyperlipidaemic or have a combination of some or all of the above.
When people who only turn up because of a pain are found to have an NCD, I tell them, “You should thank God for the pain. It won’t kill you, but the NCD will”.
LOOKING FIT DOESN’T EXEMPT ONE FROM GETTING CVD! – THE HORROR STORIES
Story # 1 – Tek yuh Medications!
One of the most striking examples that I have is of someone who was very fit but unhealthy… he was a friend of mine who used to cycle in groups a lot. It was his passion. He would easily cycle to Port Royal and sometimes cycle to Negril (from Kingston). But he had a high LDL cholesterol.
For many years, I tried to get him to simply take one statin at night, but he flatly refused and repeatedly reiterated how fit he was. I literally begged him for years, but he remained resolute.
One day he visited the office and began by saying, “Don’t say I told you so”. He was on one of his rides, on the North Coast, when he suffered a heart attack and had to be air lifted to the UHWI where he had emergency cardiac intervention. It was only after that scary and horrible experience that he started taking the statin.
Story # 2 – Tek yuh Medications – Even on your “feel-good” days!
Another memorable example was of a fit, tall, and stately patient who only took his blood pressure meds when he felt like. Again, I begged him for years. Well, one day the chickens came home to roost. He ended up with a huge heart and suffered a massive stroke that left him with a left hemi. When I went to look for him in the hospital, he was surrounded by relatives.
He looked and me and had the temerity to announce, “This pressure thing serious you know doc. I didn’t feel any pain. All of a sudden, I could not move!” The relatives looked at me as if I did not manage him properly. It took all that I had to restrain myself from reminding him that I always warned him about this. Anyway, he ended up living on a long list of meds and remained paralysed for the rest of his life.
PUTTING HANDS AND HEARTS TOGETHER AS WE PROMOTE HEART HEALTH IN JAMAICA!
I know that the Heart Foundation and the National Health Fund are doing fantastic work and saving hundreds of thousands of lives. I wonder if the powers that be would consider putting more funding into utilizing social media, some of those radio spots reserved for government broadcast, signs on public transport, and billboards to encourage more screening and sticking to prescribed meds. They could also use those media to recruit family members into encouraging their peeps to get themselves checked.
‘TAKE CARE OF YOUR BODY, TAKE CHARGE OF YOUR MIND’
“Health is not just the absence of illnesses but a state of physical well-being.” A few hearty words in endorsement from Athlete and Chairman of YB Rehab & Wellness Centre, Yohan Blake, who was one of six presenters to share professional insight and health positivity. The simplicity, yet importance of his message should be echoed across the ears and hearts of all Jamaicans.
HEART FAILURE CAN BE PREVENTED
“We have learned how to save lives of people with heart attacks, valve disease, and hypertensive heart disease. Children with congenital heart disease now live to adulthood…. Heart failure can be prevented by managing the underlying disease of which it can be a complication such as hypertension and diabetes – common conditions amongst our population.”
‘THE NUMBERS ARE ALARMING’
Mrs Chen delivered on the statistics of screening conducted by the Heart Foundation of Jamaica between January and December of 2023.
• 71.3 per cent of the blood pressure checks done were found to be at a level that required medical evaluation (Stage 1 or 2) while another 10.4% had “elevated” blood pressure
•55.3 per cent of persons who reported that they did not have a history of high blood pressure had a reading at Stage 1 or 2 while an another 14% had “elevated” blood pressure reading
•87.6 per cent of persons who reported that they had high blood pressure were uncontrolled
•70.3 per cent of persons screened were either overweight or obese
“Health is not just the absence of illnesses but a state of physical well-being.”