Croí Contributes to Health of the Nation!

Local heart charity Croí has collaborated with RTÉ’s 'How Long Will You Live' presenter, Dr. Mark Hamilton on his new TV series ‘Health of the Nation’ which is due to air on RTÉ 1 on Wednesday, March 10th at 8.30pm.

The new series highlights a variety of health conditions & ailments and the first episode which was filmed in Sligo focuses on Cardiac health with a particular emphasis on prevention. The TV programme is presented by Dr. Mark Hamilton, who invited Croí to be part of the first episode as a result of his association with the charity, when he launched ‘Croí MyAction’ last year, being the first-in-Ireland cardiac prevention programme targeting those most at risk of heart disease, diabetes & stroke.

Episode one will highlight the importance of bringing cardiac screening out of a hospital environment to a community setting where people are not attending their GP. The programme films Croí Nurses Ailish Houlihan & Irene Gibson conducting a ‘HeartSmart’ Screen in Sligo. ‘HeartSmart’ is a unique community based cardiac risk assessment programme that was developed by Croí 6 years ago. It involves a 20 minute cardiac assessment with a nurse specialist and measures cholesterol, glucose and blood pressure together with BMI (Body Mass Index). As part of the TV programme, 12 members of the Sligo Darts team underwent this assessment with results that were a cause for concern! The team were given very specific lifestyle advice and they all received a copy of the Croí Healthy Heart Kit and a personal record card. The Darts team were then followed up 1 month later and while the Nurses did not expect to see much progress in such a short time frame, the changes the men made were very significant.

Speaking about the programme Croí Nurse Irene Gibson says 'the greatest impact on reducing heart disease comes from people changing their lifestyle and other modifiable risk factors and this Dart team demonstrated that this is possible. The changes these men made to their risk profile will hopefully encourage others to attend their GP for a check up and also to review their own lifestyle and the changes they can make'.

If people are concerned about their risk of heart disease or stroke please contact (091) 893500 to speak to any member of the Croí Heart Health Team.