SHAPE Raises Heart Attack Awareness on CBS Channel 11
Great Day Houston with Debra Duncan featured former Olympic skating champion, Peggy Fleming, for KanekaQH’s “Heart 365” campaign and Dr. Morteza Naghavi of SHAPE as they advocate for heart health awareness and heart attack prevention.
Houston, TX (PRWEB) March 29, 2009 — Every year over 650,000 people who have no prior symptoms of heart disease suddenly experience a heart attack. Of 136,905 patients hospitalized with a heart attack, more than 75 percent had cholesterol levels not considered high enough for treatment. In fact, normal levels of bad cholesterol and a normal blood pressure do not necessarily indicate a low risk of a heart attack. It is unfortunate that most heart attack victims could have been alerted to their risk and possibly saved if they had known the importance of getting an imaging based assessment of whether their arteries contained plaque (deposits of cholesterol) or not; such assessment – added to the routine risk factor based assessment – improves the early identification of subjects at risk for heart attacks.
If you do not have plaque, your risk of a heart attack is extremely low
If you have plaque, the expected high risk of heart attack can be significantly reduced by adoption of a heart healthy lifestyle and aggressive medical treatment of controllable risk factors.
Last Tuesday, March 24, the Society for Heart Attack Prevention and Eradication (SHAPE) and former Olympic figure skater, Peggy Fleming, advocating for KanekaQH’s “Heart 365” campaign made their guest appearance on KHOU Channel 11’s Great Day Houston with Debra Duncan to promote heart health awareness and the significance of early detection, prevention, and treatment of heart attack.
SHAPE also performed an on-site risk assessment screening of Great Day Houston’s audience member, Lisa E. Boucher.
Surprisingly, the results revealed that Boucher was, indeed, at risk of having a heart attack. Morteza Naghavi, founder of SHAPE and Chairman of the SHAPE Task Force, strongly urged individuals like Boucher to be screened and pay close attention to the measurement of atherosclerosis (plaque buildup in the arteries) in their heart. “If you do not have plaque, your risk of a heart attack is extremely low,” explains Dr. Naghavi. “If you have plaque, the expected high risk of heart attack can be significantly reduced by adoption of a heart healthy lifestyle and aggressive medical treatment of controllable risk factors.”
After, SHAPE hosted a successful luncheon at The Downtown Club where Peggy Fleming further addressed her national campaign for heart health awareness. A public risk assessment screening followed at which SHAPE also offered at-risk individuals complimentary heart scans and carotid IMT procedures.
SHAPE would like to acknowledge Amerejuve, Diagnostic Cardiology of Houston, and Memorial Hermann Wellness Institute for donating their services to a good cause. Most of all, our deepest gratitude goes out to Kaneka QH for sponsoring these events and supporting the ultimate mission towards heart attack prevention and eradication.
Click link below to view Video on Demand from Great Day Houston website: http://www.khou.com/greatday/video/?nvid=345000&
About the Society for Heart Attack Prevention and Eradication (SHAPE):
The mission of SHAPE (www.shapesociety.org) is to eradicate heart attack by championing new strategies for prevention while advancing the scientific quest for a cure. SHAPE visualizes a world free from the threat of heart attack. The goals of SHAPE are to reduce the instances of heart attack – especially in the asymptomatic patient – through education programs presented to both healthcare professionals and the community. SHAPE believes that education and ongoing research are key elements in the success of programs designed to go beyond the norm in the early detection and treatment of cardiovascular disease.