• Rotary will have an opportunity to host exchange students next school year. They’re looking for families who want to experience an amazing time. If you are interested, contact Asad.

• Todd Nicolas, Senior Credit Officer at Hometown Bank, was inducted as a new member of the club.

Program: 

Shawn Gordon introduced the speaker, Mark Streem. He is a cardiac care nurse who worked in the heart cath lab at UH Portage ever since its creation over 30 years ago, and he spoke about heart attacks.

People have about 36 million heartbeats a year. As we get into our 60s and 70s, that pump has done a lot of work. If the heart fails, all the other organs fail. The heart also needs its own supply of blood. The coronary artery provides this. If there’s a blockage, damage can occur to the heart muscle. If that happens, you’re having a heart attack.

A lot of it has to do with the unhealthy things we do in our life. Cigarette smoking causes irritation in the inner linings of our arteries. Cholesterol deposits can build up over time. If it narrows, it can become obstructed. A heart attack can occur because the artery grows narrower. Heart attacks are caused when a plaque ruptures, causing a blood clot to form. This can happen at any time.

Symptoms of heart attack are somewhat consistent, but there are particular symptoms that can vary, especially among women. Shoulder pain, chest pain and chest pressure are the trademark symptoms. But other symptoms include jaw pain, back pain, fatigue, weakness, and an impending sense of doom — the feeling that something’s just not right. These latter symptoms are more common among women. 

Because these symptoms are different between women and men, women are often misdiagnosed, and death rates and number of deaths are higher than for men. Heart disease kills more women than all cancers combined. 

Not all heart attacks are the same. Outcomes depend on a number of factors, but the best predictors of a good outcome are early diagnosis and treatment.

Mark shared the story of his own heart attack. He was experiencing discomfort. So he called the hospital. They told him he needed to go to the ER. The ER was packed, but they took him right back. He ended up having 75% blockage. The plaque had ruptured. If he had ignored his symptoms, it would have killed or disabled him. He is alive because he followed his own advice. 

Some tips: 

• Don’t delay. Call 911. Get to the hospital quickly. 

• Take an aspirin, which causes the platelets to become less sticky. (You could even chew it to get it into your system faster.)

• The cold causes arteries to constrict narrower. Don’t ignore symptoms. Diabetics are notorious for having silent heart attacks. 

The problem is delay. The problem is that nobody has time for a heart attack. But you don’t have time to die either.

Submitted by Ben Wolford