DMC Heart Hospital hosts goREDTALKS

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the state of Michigan and the nation. Over the past five years in Michigan, 58,298 women have died of heart disease. This number of women could easily fill Comerica Park for a Detroit Tigers game, according to the Michigan Department of Community Health.

Every day about 2,200 Americans die from heart disease, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases, which averages out to one person every 40 seconds.

Katrina McCree, marketing director for Health Insurance Operations at Detroit Medical Center (DMC), could have been one of those people. McCree took the stage to tell her story of how what began as a typical day at work would change her life forever.

"I was about to eat lunch. I had a sandwich and I could not grasp the sandwich. It just kept falling out of my hand. It was very strange," said McCree.

Things quickly went from strange to scary as McCree was in what she described as a confused state.

"I couldn't figure out what was happening," she said.

McCree got up and attempted to walk it off, when her coworker asked, "where are you going?" McCree heard her but could not respond, because her body and brain were at odds. As she was trying to open the door to her office she lost the feeling in her limbs and collapsed.

Luckily for McCree, she works in a hospital and was able to get immediate medical attention. Over the course of three days, she underwent a battery of tests and learned that she had experienced a stroke.

"The MRI revealed I had a stroke and the Doppler test found a blocked carotid artery," she said. A piece of plaque had broken off and tried to move through her artery but couldn't get through, thus creating a blockage and the recipe for disaster. McCree was stunned.

"I didn't have high blood pressure or cholesterol and wasn't diabetic. I felt like there should've been a warning."

But there was a warning when doctors discovered that she was pre-disposed to heart disease given her family history, including her brother, Kelly, who died from a heart attack at the age of 29.

McCree went on to make several health and heart conscious changes in her lifestyle, and now speaks about her experience in hopes that it will help someone else make the change.

"Unfortunately, we live in a society where people don't believe things until it happens to them or someone they know. I am trying to be that person they know. The person that makes them say 'I don't want this to happen to me.' We have to become more health conscious," said McCree.

According to the American Heart Association (AHA) and the American Stroke Association, cardiovascular disease is the leading global cause of death, accounting for more than 17 million deaths per year. Nearly 800,000 people in the U.S. died from heart disease, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases in 2013.

The problem is so great and affects so many that the DMC Heart Hospital was designed to improve the heart health of Detroit, southeastern Michigan and the entire region. They have dedicated powerful resources to creating a cardiac care center that leads the region in research and care.

One such powerful resource is their partnership with the AHA and Mindy Lopus, director of Go Red For Women for the Southeast Michigan AHA who created the goREDTAKS. Loosely modeled after the highly successful "TED Talks," (TED is a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas and information, in the form of short, powerful talks on a variety of topics) the idea behind goREDTALKS is to promote ideas that relate back to the lifesaving work of the AHA, but are not necessarily about the AHA.

"We started the talks about two years ago because we realized that people didn't understand the full scope of everything we do and we wanted to become more accessible to the community," said Lopus.

Last Friday the AHA, in partnership with DMC Heart Hospital, held their first-ever, exclusive "goREDTALKS."

The half-day event was held in the new DMC Heart Hospital and featured national and local speakers who shared their brief yet insightful viewpoints and stories on how healthcare, and more specifically cardiac care, impacts our community.

"Our partnership with the American Heart Association helps us bring this event to life, providing a unique series of speakers with great insight into healthcare, the city of Detroit and how they come together for the benefit of every person who enters our doors," said Theodore Schrieber, president of DMC Heart Hospital.

Other speakers included Jiri Fischer of the Detroit Red Wings, whose playing career ended abruptly in November 2005 after he went into cardiac arrest during a game. Fischer narrowly escaped death due to the immediate action of doctors and arena personnel. He subsequently retired due to his heart problems.

The audience also heard from 16-year-old Cydney Gardner-Brown. Gardner-Brown was the first runner-up in the ONE BOLD GIRL. ONE BOLD THOUGHT scholarship contest. The contest was open to incoming senior girls in the DPS STEM program. Gardner-Brown's talk described how she had unwillingly become a member of one of the most dangerous "clubs" in the country. She likened the club to a gang that has been ruthlessly killing thousands of people every year.

"I am afraid for my life," she said.

The "club" she was talking about was heart disease, and both her grandmother and grandfather had fallen victim to the club and died of heart related causes.

All of the speakers helped to put a face on heart disease. The stories were varied, but most importantly they were real. The goREDTALKS offer an opportunity to share experiences and solutions to make the changes necessary to improve the health of our community.