Successful heart health check event at local library

Several people of all ages queued outside the Heart Failure Awareness Roadshow van at Johnston Central Library last Tuesday afternoon.

When the Celt dropped by at around lunch time, the wait to receive a free blood pressure and pulse check was over one hour long, reflective of the interest in the initiative.

A number of those gathered had been advised to consult their GP as values were above what is normal.

In conjunction with Heart Failure Awareness week, nurses in the check van were conducting blood pressure and pulse checks, explaining normal values, and advising if they need to seek medical attention. The project was organised by Cavan County Library Service under the ‘Healthy Ireland at your Library’ initiative.

The initiative aims to create awareness of heart failure and associated risk factors. Heart failure affects one on five people and occurs where the heart is not pumping enough blood to meet the body’s needs, however it does not mean the heart has stopped working. The most common risk factor is high blood pressure.

Serious

Cavan’s Irish Heart Foundation Patient Champion Michael Madigan was among those gathered at the event. Michael has been living with heart failure since 2016 and manages his condition with a healthy lifestyle and regular check-ups. In October 2016, one day before his 48th birthday, he was sitting at his kitchen table when he started sweating and experiencing a tingling sensation in his arms. He phoned 999 straight away, a call that saved his life. Michael was experiencing a STEMI, which is a serious heart attack. After being airlifted to the Mater Hospital, doctors learned his heart was 100% blocked on one side and 90% blocked on the other, and provided life-saving treatment.

It was after this, when he returned to Cavan General Hospital, that he discovered he had heart failure, which resulted from his heart being starved of oxygen for approximately three hours.

“I’ve lived with heart failure now for ten years, and if I knew back then what I know now I probably would have lived my life differently from all sorts of angles such as exercising regularly and eating better and having more regular heart health checks,” the Cornafean man said.

“People need to always try to eat well, exercise, keep the stress levels low, sleep well and do all the things to maintain a healthy body. You only have one body to live in and you have that until you die so you have to look after it,” Michael advised.

He said attending an awareness event “can be very helpful” to learn your values and seek advice on managing risk factors.

Health plan

Michael also advocates with the Irish Heart Foundation at a national level. They are currently campaigning for the HSE and the Department of Health to implement a cardiovascular health plan in Ireland.

“In Cavan, I’m aware that there’s long wait for GPs referring people to a cardiologist because we didn’t have a cardiologist for a number of years. Now we do have a cardiologist but it’s a huge waiting list coming from primary care and coming from GPs.”

Michael said he is advocating for “more resources” for the Cavan Monaghan area “because heart problems are the number one killer in the world”.

“We need more resources for cardiac care,” Michael asserted.