Community health fair brings awareness to heart health

SHREVEPORT, La. (KSLA) - Ochsner LSU Health hosted a free community health fair on Saturday, Oct. 1.

Heart Health Day gave participants the opportunity to get free health screenings. Group exercises were also held and experts educated people on the importance of healthy habits.

“In the United States, every 40 seconds, somebody has a heart attack. And every 30 seconds, approximately one person dies because of cardiovascular disease,” said Dr. Paari Dominic, director of cardiac-electric physiology.

Due to this fact, Dominic felt it was important to bring awareness of heart health to the community.

“Specifically, Louisiana is number five on the top five states that has cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular deaths,” said Dominic.

He also says one in five adults who suffer a heart attack show no pre-acknowledging symptoms.

“My mom died from a massive heart attack. So, I’m here to make sure I’m up on my heart to keep it from having the same thing,” said Ida Lindsay.

She said she feels that Heart Health Day was the perfect opportunity to make sure her health was in line.

Students helping out with the event say they also gained from the experience.

“It gives me time to engage with our patient population here and learn more about the different health screenings they’re getting, as well as see the reactions when someone gets high blood pressure that they don’t know about,” said student Maggie Boston.

Many participants say they enjoyed the event because of how accessible it was.

Dr. Maamannan Venkataraj says many people avoid getting health screenings because of they are not properly insured.

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