It was a red-letter day at Northwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center in 2004 when the hospital was the first in the area to have a “Go Red Heart Health Fair.”
Sixteen years later, the “Go Red Heart Health Fair” is still going strong at the hospital and provided new information at the 2020 health fair on Friday morning. National Wear Red Day is the first Friday every February, which is American Heart Month.
“We were the first hospital in this area to have a ‘Go Red Heart Health Fair.’” said Dianne Mitchell, spokesman for NWMMC. “We launched it.”
Mitchell said the purpose of the health fair is to educate the public.
“In women, the signs and symptoms are different,” she said. “We just bring awareness of heart issues in general.”
Mitchell provided personal testimony about her daughter, Angela Flowers.
“My daughter, she had back pain and she said her back was hurting,” Mitchell said. “So she came to our emergency room and found out something was going on with her heart. She had five stints put in her heart. Her chest was not hurting, but she had back and shoulder pain and it was her heart.”
Mitchell said the warning signs for heart issues with women could be pain in the jaw, arms or back.
Coahoma Community College Students provided free glucose and blood pressure exams at the health fair, the hospital lab tested for cholesterol levels, Delta EMS and NMRMS emergency department director Naomi Heagwood taught hands-only CPR, The Woman’s Clinic provided information on healthy things women could do for their hearts and Mid-Delta Home Health talked about its services.
The ladies of Iota Delta Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., along with a nurse practitioner, provided information on numbers people should look for when it comes to blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar and other things along with healthy foods for the heart.
Know Your Numbers
Cholesterol tests, normally $100, were provided for free in the hospital lab.
“When the numbers are not right and your body doesn’t feel right, seek a healthcare professional,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell said healthy foods are low in fat, fruits and vegetables. She added people should eat less fried and starched food and exercise more. The top three health issues people in the area face frequently are heart disease, diabetes and obesity.
“Because of lack of exercise and all this good food we have in the Delta, we tend to eat,” she said.
Heagwood, who has participated in the health fair for nine years, said some of the healthiest foods are chicken, fish, dry beans, baked chicken and baked pork. She said low salt should be used and food should not be seasoned with salt.
“Heart healthy diets, are not limiting the amount of food you eat, but rather the types of food you eat,” Heagwood said. “People think, ‘Oh, I have to go on a diet. I’m going to starve.’ You can eat plenty of food. It’s just the type of foods you eat – lots of green vegetables, lots of fruits, low cholesterol meats.”
She said a good diet helps control blood pressure and cholesterol.
CPR
Heagwood, with the help of Delta EMS, cleared up myths about CPR for people who attended the fair.
“Hands-only CPR is just as effective as regular CPR,” Heagwood said. “A lot of people don’t want to do regular CPR because they don’t want to breathe for someone. We have found out that if you do fast, early compression, the survival rate is almost three times the rate as if you did nothing.”
Heagwood let people know NMRMS is capable of handling any heart attack.
“If it is a heart attack that needs immediate intervention, then we have a process in place with Methodist University,” she said. “Those patients can go and get stents placed within an hour.”
Jonathan Watkins, chief operations officer Delta EMS, said the American Heart Association determined-hands only CPR was better a few years ago.
“With a lot of research, they (American Heart Association) teach that if you witness collapse, the first thing you should do is call 911 and then immediately begin pushing hard, push fast in the center of the chest,” Watkins said. “Research has shown this has been effective in saving more lives circulating the blood and doing the hands-only CPR as quick as possible.”
Watkins said he talked to one lady at the health fair who, until Friday, incorrectly believed mouth-to-mouth CPR was more effective than chest compressions.
“I always say education and awareness are the first steps to saving a life, so just do your research and learn as much as you can,” Watkins said. “We’re always here to help and anybody that wants to learn hands-only CPR or CPR. They’re more than welcome to contact us or come visit us. We’d love to help teach and educate them on it.”
Heagwood said the emergency department would go to any local church, health fair or organization to teach hands-on CPR and give information about the hospital emergency room.
Pat White, chairperson for Iota Delta Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., said her organization provided literature for patients to know more about cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure. Patients who had health issues were provided referrals on where to go.
“Your health information is very important,” White said. “Your health information is always needed and so we just talk about how they can become more involved in their healthcare, how to provide self-care for themselves.”
In the future, Mitchell said goals are for the health fair to provide more information on exercise, perform a health food demonstration and give a cooking class.
“I just want to encourage the community, whenever there’s a health fair and they do free screenings, participate,” Mitchell said. “You don’t have to use your insurance. You don’t have to pay to know what’s going on with your body . . . we’re here for the community.”
