Heart Health in Adair County

           A man wakes up early one morning to go about his daily routine: eat breakfast at the local diner, do some yard work, and visit old friends and acquaintances in the various near-by hospitals and nursing homes.  When he arrives at the diner the same inviting smells and friendly faces greet him as he walks in.  However, today is not like other days: the man has been suffering from a persistent pain in his chest and before his eggs and bacon are served he’s collapsed on the floor of the diner.  By the time EMS are able to arrive and provide treatment it’s too late, and the old man is beyond help.  He dies before reaching the hospital.  The yard is left unclipped and his friends are left wondering why he hasn’t stopped by for a visit today, like he does every day.

            The man in this story was killed by a disease that is spreading across America, killing thousands of friends and loved ones each year.  It isn’t a virus or cancer, but a disease more subtle and elusive and the number one cause of death in America: it is heart disease.  Heart disease is defined as a build-up of plaque in the heart that leads to lack of blood flow and ultimately heart failure (AHA, 2011). 

            There are many risk factors to heart disease, including smoking, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, physical inactivity, obesity, and diabetes mellitus.  A person with any or all of these risk factors is at risk for heart disease, and because the risks factors are so numerous, it is unsurprising why this illness is the number one killer in America (2011).

            Just like in the rest of the United States, heart disease is a major problem for Adair County, Missouri:  25% of deaths in the county are related to heart disease.  Most of the risk factors for heart disease are very present in the area as well.  30.8% of Adair county residents suffer from high blood pressure, 41.4% of residents over the age of 35 are diagnosed with high cholesterol, 35% are obese, 19% smoke, and the rate of inactivity is 25% (MDHSS 2007). 

            With the risks and prevalence of heart disease so high, it is important for Adair County to be prepared to handle any heart-related emergencies that might occur, such as cardiac arrest.  Cardiac arrest is a syndrome where an individual’s heart stops beating and can happen to anyone—children, adults, elderly, athletes—at anytime with little or no prior warning signs.  If  the heart is not beating, it is not pumping blood; if blood flow is not restored immediately, a victim can suffer permanent brain damage or die.  Using defibrillation is the only effective way to resuscitate a victim whose heart has stopped. Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) send an electrical shock to a malfunctioning heart in order to jolt the heart back to life.  Once installed, the devices are easy to access and can be used by any person, whether they are experienced in life’s-saving techniques or not.  The chance of a victim surviving sudden cardiac arrest diminishes 7-10% for every minute a victim goes without immediate CPR or defibrillation and in 10 short minutes, reviving a victim that has received no immediate care is rarely successful.  For this reason, only 5% of individuals who suffer from sudden cardiac arrest survive (WebMD, 2008).  Chances of surviving could be increased as much as 60% if an AED is used in a timely fashion (OSHA, 2011).

            Many places around the world have taken the initiative to supply their communities with AEDs.  From 1999-2002, 475 AEDs were placed around Seattle, WA and hundreds of people were trained to use the devices.  As a result, 50 cases of sudden cardiac arrest were treated before EMS arrived and half of the victims involved in those cases survived until hospital discharge (Culley, Rea, Murray, Welles, Fahrenbruch, Ulsufka, Eisenberg, Copass, 2004).  In the Piacenza region of Italy, 39 AEDs were placed around the community and 1,285 lay volunteers were trained to use the AEDs.  As a result, the survival rate from sudden cardiac arrest tripled from 3.3%-10.5%  (Capucci, Aschieri, Piepoli, Bardy, Iconomu, Arvedi, 2002). 

Just as Seattle and Piacenza has done, the Northeast Missouri Heart Health Corporation has made it their mission to supply businesses around the Kirksville area with AEDs.  The initiative is a result of the loss of Kirksville resident Peggy Rynerson, who passed away on April 9, 2009.  Peggy suffered from sudden cardiac arrest, and if an AED had been near by, she might have been saved.

With the prevalence of heart disease so high in Adair County and sudden cardiac arrest being so unpredictable, disaster could strike at any time.  If the Kirksville is community is more prepared to handle these instances if and when they occur, more people like Peggy could be saved, less breakfast dates missed, and fewer friends left waiting for a visit from a friendly face.

Sources

(2011).  American Heart Association. Understand Your Risk of Heart Attack. Retrieved from: http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/ HeartAttack/ UnderstandYourRiskofHeartAttack/Understand-Your-Risk-of-Heart Attack_UCM_002040_ Article.jsp

(2009). Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. Heart Disease Profile for Adair County. Retrieved from: http://health.mo.gov/data/mica/ASPsHeartDisease/

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(2011). United States Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Automated external defibrillators.  Retrieved from: http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/aed/index.html

Culley, Rea, Murray, Welles, Fahrenbruch, Ulsufka, Eisenberg, Copass.  (2004).  American Heart Association. Public Access Defibrillation in Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest.  Retrieved from: http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/109/

15/1859.abstract?sid=70441a91-4e37-41cc-81b6-5f31b355c29a

Capucci, Aschieri, Piepoli, Bardy, Iconomu, Arvedi. (2002). American Heart Association. Tripling Survival from Sudden Cardiac Arrest Via Early Defibrillation Without Tradition Education in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation.  Retrieved from: http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/

106/9/1065.abstract