Million Hearts Program to conduct heart screenings for students and staff at Thompson Library

Christy Han
Fri, 09 Feb 2024 00:46:58 +0000
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Ohio State will conduct heart screenings from 9 a.m. to noon Tuesday at Thompson Library for students, faculty and staff as part of the CDC’s Million Hearts initiative. Photo credit: Ohio State Wexner Medical Center

In celebration of reaching a milestone of over 100,000 cardiovascular screenings through its partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Million Hearts initiative, Ohio State will conduct heart screenings from 9 a.m. to noon Tuesday at the Thompson Library for students, faculty and staff.?

Ohio State is the only higher education institution that is a part of the Million Hearts program, which has a goal of preventing 1 million heart attacks and strokes, placing an emphasis on early detection and leading a healthy lifestyle.?

“The initiative is really based on prevention,” Dr. Kate Gawlik, associate professor of clinical nursing and project manager of the Million Hearts program, said.

The cardiovascular screenings will be performed by undergraduate nursing students and health and wellness students, supervised by their faculty, and will include getting blood pressure taken, doing a stress screen and completing a body mass calculation, Gawlik said.?

“If someone’s blood pressure is very high, that can be taxing on the heart so having that treated is going to be important,” Dr. Laxmi Mehta, director of preventive cardiology and women’s cardiovascular health at the Wexner Medical Center, said.?

A common myth regarding heart disease is that it only occurs in older individuals, Mehta said.?

“Young college students can get heart disease,” Mehta said. “They could have a family history or genetic disorders in their cluster which can increase the risks of heart disease.”

Heart disease is the No. 1 killer for both men and women in the U.S., as one person across the country dies every 33 seconds due to cardiovascular disease, according to the CDC. Cardiovascular disease includes heart attack, stroke, heart failure and other conditions related to the heart, according to the American Heart Association.

“We will be doing cardiovascular risk reduction counseling,” Gawlik said. “This will be individualized counseling based on that individual’s cardiovascular risk factors.”

Some risk factors for heart disease include an unhealthy diet, obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and a sedentary lifestyle, according to the CDC.?

“You can lower your risk of heart disease because we know that 80% of heart disease is preventable by taking care of the risk factors,” Mehta said.

Gawlik said the American Heart Association’s “simple seven” are essential for keeping the heart healthy. These include managing blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar, and quitting smoking, getting adequate exercise and maintaining a healthy diet and weight.

“A lot of cardiovascular diseases are silent, and a lot of people are walking around with high blood pressure and they don’t know it,” Gawlik said. “By being screened, this helps to recognize it early before damage has been done to the cardiovascular system, which then ultimately results in cardiovascular disease down the line.”