Beyond Trim: Prompt heart attack care and warning signs

We tend to think of heart attacks as sudden events that occur without much warning, but did you know that someone may experience symptoms of an impending heart attack weeks before it happens?

By learning to recognize the early warning signs of a potential heart attack you may be able to save a life, including your own!

Early warning signs include:

· Feeling of fullness

· Pain that travels down one or both arms

· Jaw pain

· Excessive fatigue or weakness

· Anxiety

· Nausea or vomiting

· Back pain

· Shortness of breath

· Chest pressure, squeezing, aching, or burning

The Deputy Heart Attack program is a public outreach platform that has been teaching to people to learn about and act on early heart attack signs for over 40 years.

The Early Heart Attack Care (or EHAC) online course teaches you to recognize and respond in the event of a cardiac emergency. It emphasizes critical life saving actions that include recognizing the signs, employing hands-only CPR, the use of an AED (Automatic Electronic defibrillator), and most importantly calling 9-1-1.

It’s also important to know the general risk factors that might increase the possibility of someone having a cardiovascular event. These are:

· Chest pain, pressure, burning, aching or tightness in the chest that may come and go

· A family history of cardiovascular disease

· High blood pressure

· Being overweight or obese

· A sedentary lifestyle

· Using tobacco products

· Metabolic disease, diabetes, or other illness

· For women it can also include the use of birth control pills, a history of pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes, or having a low-birth-weight baby

You can learn more about EHAC, take an online course, and pledge to be an active bystander at the Deputy Heart attack website www.deputyheartattack.acc.org

Sherry DeWalt is the healthy lifestyles coordinator for the CGH Health Foundation in Sterling.