Show some ticker, MPs

HEART disease is Australia’s biggest killer, ending 51 lives a day, which is why News Regional Media is partnering with the Heart Foundation to demand a change – and your support is crucial.

As one of seven key initiatives, we are calling for Medicare-funded heart health checks that would save thousands of lives and more than $1.5 billion over the next five years.

The condition currently costs $6.7 billion a year, in terms of medical expenses and lost productivity and has a terrible impact not only on victims – even those lucky enough to survive – and their families.

Yet it is relatively ignored on the health agenda, compared to other less fatal diseases.

In addition to the Medicare-funded checks for all Australians at risk, we want authorities to:

● Boost access to life-saving cardiac rehabilitation programs

● Update doctors’ guidelines for heart health checks

● Fund a 10-year strategy to end rheumatic heart disease

● Create a national women and heart disease campaign

● Push a tobacco-control mass media education campaign

● Establish a national nutrition strategy

Help us achieve these goals by telling the government and your MP to #SHOWSOMETICKER and act.

Send them a message on social media with that hashtag and share your stories and pictures to encourage others to take care of their heart.

And as a first step to check you and your family are doing OK, visit www.heartfoundation.org.au and use the Heart Age Calculator – it takes less than two minutes.

Next, talk to your own GP about a heart health check.