It’s hard to put heart disease and laughter together, but that’s just what the Healthy Woman Senior Circle Coordinator, Bonny Hildebrand, was able to do. Bonny and her team from Porter Health System were able to bring women and seniors from all over the county together to laugh and learn.
“This event is to raise awareness of heart health,” said Hildebrand. “We have a program called Healthy Woman and a program called Senior Circle where we really try to inform women and seniors on the importance of heart health, heart education and healthy eating. We also want to empower them with knowledge to make informed health care decisions.”
Bonny brought in Tracey Conway, who inspired the laughter and knowledge because of her own personal experience with heart disease. I was able to sit down with Tracey before she took the stage as she explained her story:
“There has been a good push to let people know that heart disease is the number one health risk for both men and women. I think what most people are unaware of, is how young women can be when heart disease strikes and that it doesn’t have to be a death sentence. You just need to be proactive in your health and find out your family history and work with your doctor to find out your numbers. If you don’t smoke you can have a long wonderful healthy life, even if you have a genetic makeup that is stacked against you."
In talking to Tracey, I could tell that talking about heart disease came from her heart. She shared with me why it means so much to her. She explained, “In 1995 I was an actress on a sketch comedy television show just like Saturday Night Live. We said good night, the camera stopped rolling and I literally fell over dead.”
She continued, “We had just spoofed E.R. on the show and people just thought ‘good stunt fall’ but I had actually gone into ventricular fibrillation, which is a very chaotic heart arrhythmia. It’s actually called the death rhythm. And the only way to be revived is with defibrillator.”
Conway went on to explain, “I was lucky that a young man in the audience did my CPR for about 6-7 minutes before the defibrillator arrived on a fire truck. They shocked me twice, then the paramedics came and shocked me another four times. I was without my own heart beat for about 20 minutes. Cardiac arrest victims do not typically survive. I’m in about 6% of people who live after having experienced cardiac arrest outside of a hospital."
She then explained the importance of programs like this one. “It’s really important to get that message out because cardiac arrest can happen to children, and to both sexes. The first time many people experience this chaotic heart event, they collapse and die. So we want to get the information out about how to do CPR; that’s the only way you're going to give somebody a fighting chance to actually get the defibrillator. And because of that more people actually do live now.”
Talking with Tracey really opened my eyes to the importance of being knowledgeable of heart disease and how important the technology is to help prevent heart attacks and cardiac arrest. CEO of Porter Health System, Jonathan Nalli shared, “For the first time in almost 40 years there will be a brand new hospital in Porter County and Northwest Indiana. Bigger, faster, more efficient, everything is designed around you and the patient experience you have come to expect from a health care partner and provider.”
With a new hospital opening up and people being educated about heart disease, Porter County and Northwest Indiana are on their way to being healthier, happier and laughing a little more.
Click here for photos from the evening!