Minding Your Heart Health
By Nicole L. Gill, Council Magazine
The world is such a stressful place today. First, a global pandemic forced everyone inside their homes to self-isolate because of the coronavirus. Then the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery and the resulting protests brought another type of stress.
Extreme stress leads many to engage in behaviors that aren’t healthy. Smoking, excessive alcohol use and eating unhealthy foods are just some of the risk factors for heart disease. In addition, stress can raise blood pressure and cholesterol levels, which may cause damage to the heart, according to the American Heart Association.
When the fifth “I Heart Health Expo” occurred Feb. 8 in Silver Spring, Maryland, COVID-19 hadn’t yet become a global pandemic. States and cities hadn’t begun to lock down, ultimately closing businesses and canceling events.
The vendors and exhibitors at the I Heart Health expo were focused on raising awareness of heart disease and promoting heart-healthy activities in underserved communities.
“We believe that our food is our medicine. It’s our identity and it’s our culture.”
Tambra Raye Stevenson, CEO of WANDA: Women Advancing Nutrition Dietetics and Agriculture
In 2017, 23.3% of African American deaths were caused by heart disease, according to the National Vital Statistics Report released in 2019. There are about 647,000 American deaths from heart disease each year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.
““I Heart Health was born in Baltimore because we wanted to create awareness in underserved communities.””
“Losing a friend to heart disease six years ago gave me the push I needed to start I Heart Health to start creating awareness and educating our communities,” said Alli Mofor, director of operations for I Heart Health.
Models wore red during the Red Runway Fashion Show at the Veterans Plaza in Silver Spring, Maryland, on Feb. 8, 2020.
The annual expo featured medical professionals, insurance providers, vendors promoting changes in diet and exercise, booths with tips to prevent kidney disease and the Red Runway Fashion Show.
“What you put in your body is really important because it can be the quickest way to either a cure or a poison,” said Kenneth Watson Jr., owner of Esquire Meals, a health conscious gourmet food service company. “We wanted to find healthy alternatives to the meals we eat.”
The observance of American Heart Month in February feels like a lifetime ago in the wake of stay-at-home orders and social distancing amid the pandemic. But maintaining heart health remains key. The CDC found that people with serious heart conditions, diabetes, chronic kidney disease – conditions that were a focus of I Heart Health – among other underlying conditions are at greater risk for severe illness from COVID-19.
Esquire Meals provided an array of healthy options for attendees to sample during the Feb. 8, 2020, event.
I Heart Health brought “vendors together where we can now sit and educate the community on measures to take to deal with not just heart issues but health care in general,” said Ken Fomundam, Mofor’s brother and supporter.
The event provided information and tools to encourage changes that may keep some underlying conditions at bay.
Cherry Miales, with the George Washington Transplant Institute and the Ron and Joy Paul Kidney Center, speaks about kidney disease.
“We’ve partnered with I Heart Health fair in order to get the information as far as kidney disease out to the community because this is something that is affecting our community and people aren’t aware how prevalent this issue is,” said Cherry Miales with the George Washington Transplant Institute and the Ron and Joy Paul Kidney Center.
It is important that the lessons on healthy lifestyles, blood pressure, BMI and nutrition learned at I Heart Health are not forgotten. A study published in JAMA Cardiology found COVID-19 can cause injury to the heart even in people who don’t have a pre-existing heart problem. If there is a pre-existing heart condition, it’s important to be vigilant and limit the chance of exposure to this coronavirus.
Expo attendees participate in one of many workout demonstrations.
It may be hard to eliminate stress all together, but there are ways to reduce stress that also will help the heart. Having an active lifestyle, a healthy diet and maintaining a healthy weight are good for reducing stress as well as protecting the heart.
For Mofor, prevention is key.
“Being in health care, I wanted to create awareness in underserved communities to promote healthy lifestyles and also primary prevention,” Mofor said. “Especially in the Black community, we focus on secondary prevention. We go to the hospital when stuff is already really bad.”
The world is so strange right now that we must do what we can to protect our hearts. Situations outside our control can damage them. Let’s not create the damage ourselves. Take a lesson from I Heart Health: Eat right, stay active and do what you can in order to maintain your overall wellbeing.
