08-02-2025
Ascension Sacred Heart Bay held luncheon for Heart Health Awareness
BAY COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB) – Every 60 seconds in America someone suffers a heart attack.
Doctors at Ascension Sacred Heart Bay used Friday's 'going red luncheon' to educate the community about heart disease risk factors.
'There's a lot of risk factors, hypertension, having diabetes, high cholesterol, smoking, not being active family history. So these are all components that can lead to the development of heart disease,' ASHB Cardiologist Lauren Stipp said.
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Doctors say around 50% of Americans don't know that heart disease is the number one killer in America, their goal is to create awareness about prevention.
'So breast cancer, you know, we have all this awareness and it's very important. But ten times more women die of heart disease than breast cancer, okay? So breast cancer gets treated, but people don't typically die as much as heart disease. So we need to increase awareness about that, about that,' ASHB Cardiothoracic Surgeon Richard Eubanks said.
Friday's presentations were successful in creating awareness and encouraging prevention.
Things like exercising regularly, eating foods low in cholesterol and high in fiber, knowing you're family history.
However, doctors pointed sometimes you can do everything right and still be a victim of heart disease.
'I am young, I should be healthy. I'm not obese. You know, I'm not I don't smoke. So realistically, it's got to be in my head right because there's no reason for this to be happening,' ASHB CV & ICU Nurse Sandy Hitzeman said.
Hitzeman, only in her early 30's says she experienced symptoms like extremely elevated heart rates, trouble breathing, and dizziness for around 6 years. She says for years cardiologists wrote her off, telling her it was stress or symptoms of medications she was taking.
'It got to a point where I was questioning myself, Am I crazy? Is this really happening? Even though my symptoms were very real. It was exhausting. And then I hit a breaking point. And last year I had a stroke at 33 years old,' Hitzeman said.
Turns out Hitzeman had a hole in her heart. She says the Ascension Sacred Heart Bay's Cardiology team changed her life.
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'Being able to work alongside them while also being the patient. It's a true testimony to me. It's a privilege to work alongside them honestly. But not only did they treat like my condition, but they gave me back my dignity and my quality of life,' Hitzeman added.
Women of all ages just like Hitzeman, are at a higher risk of experiencing heart disease.
Dr. Stipp is currently conducting clinical research that pairs artificial intelligence with CT scans to identify the different types of plaque that build up in patients' arteries.
The goal is more personalized patient care and to predict and prevent heart attacks.
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