Sarver Heart Center begins lecture season

Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States, but a handful of lecturers are coming to Green Valley to help put an end to this trend.

The first of six free lectures featuring Sarver Heart Center’s medical professionals drew the expected sizable audience at Thursday’s opener at the Canoa Hills Center.

Dr. Gordon Ewy, professor and chief of cardiology at the University of Arizona School of Medicine and director of UA’s Sarver Heart Center, kicked off the 19th season.

About the 100-plus physicians and scientists at the UA Health Science Center, Ewy said their vision is to have a future free of heart disease.

He told the audience of the newest concept in cardiopulmonary resuscitation, which is called Continuous Chest Compression CPR.

If a person appears to be having sudden cardiac arrest, moving blood to the head by squeezing on the chest is most important.

The audience viewed a slide of the technique where a nearby person comes to the rescue. By taking the heel of one hand and placing it in the center of the chest of the victim, who should be lying on his back, and placing the other hand on top of the lower hand, doing about 100 chest compressions per minute should make blood start flowing to the brain.

Half-joking, yet serious, he pointed to Sarver’s Director of Communications Daniel Stolte and Director of Development Clint McCall, who had told him that the Bee Gees’ song “Stayin’ Alive” is calculated to 103 beats a minute.

“Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation is no longer used, as it increases pressure in the chest,” Ewy said, adding the most recent medical findings show Continuous Chest Compression to be most beneficial until paramedics arrive.

Honor for Sarver

Ewy was proud to tell the audience that in September, University Medical Center was named fifth-best teaching hospital in America.

“We can teach the latest education, but in five years it will be outdated. Doctors must keep up with the newest information or they’ll be practicing outdated medicine,” he said.

He explained that a person can have up to 50 percent blockage in the coronary arteries and still have plenty of reserve. When plaque ruptures, it clots and there no longer is any reserve. This is when heart failure occurs.

Focusing on ways to stay healthy, Ewy said, “You can’t say I’m just going to eat right or I’m going to walk every day.”

He cited an overweight Sir Winston Churchill, who was said to have smoked and drank and lived to age 90, versus Russian ice dancer Sergei Grinkov, who died suddenly from heart failure at age 24.

Ewy’s comment on the two was good genes for Churchill, but not for Grinkov.

“Pick your parents very carefully,” he joked.

Critical factors

Prior to taking questions from the audience, Ewy listed critical factors to prevent cardiovascular disease:

Take responsibility for yourself.

Know your risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

Don’t smoke; it increases clotting.

Maintain normal blood pressure.

Assure blood lipids are in the optimal range.

Select foods carefully.

Be selective about medicine and pills.

Minimizing stress is another critical factor. “Is it worth dying for? Talk to yourself,” he told the audience.

He also backed taking part in appropriate daily exercise, and said, “Pain receptors are there for a reason. If it hurts, stop doing it.”

The second Sarver Heart Center lecture presented by Green Valley Recreation will be on Thursday, Nov. 20, at 10 a.m. at the Canoa Hills Center. The topic will be “Diabetes and Heart Disease.” Lectures are free and open to the public.

Ellen Sussman is a freelance writer in Green Valley. Contact her at ellen2414@cox.net.