Heart health message gets a ‘red’ alert

Multiple Rochester landmarks — including Chase Tower, High Falls and the statue of Mercury — will glow red on Friday. In addition, more than 270 companies in Monroe County have signed on to Wear Red Day today. And when heart transplant recipient Ginger Zimmerman of Pittsford tells her story today, there will likely be tears among the audience.

These events and several local health fairs with blood pressure checks are all aimed at catching people’s attention about two facts: Heart disease is the leading killer of both men and women in this country. And half of those deaths could be averted if people lived healthier lifestyles.

“If you have your health, you have everything,” said Zimmerman, 44.

Zimmerman was in her 30s and living in her native Louisiana when she experienced chest pain during exercise. After a treadmill electrocardiogram, the cardiologist said there was nothing seriously wrong with her heart and that she just needed to get back into shape after having a baby. But odd symptoms persisted. She felt tired, woke up short of breath and was sick often.

Two years later, she was diagnosed with advanced heart damage. Her only hope was a transplant. After months of waiting in a hospital, a possible match was identified. Her husband rushed back from his offshore job, arriving just before her surgery with the shocking news that he’d just been in a helicopter crash. Soon he was hospitalized with what turned out to be an inoperable tear of a small artery in the brain, likely caused by the accident.

He ended up on life support equipment and died days later. As he wished, his organs were donated and his heart went to a father of three as Zimmerman, mother of three sons, recovered from her own transplant.

She encourages other people to eat healthy, exercise and pay attention to any symptoms, as she does. “You have the power of prevention.”

Dr. Bryan Henry, a cardiologist who also will speak today in Canandaigua, encourages people to know their numbers — blood pressure, cholesterol, weight and blood sugar levels — and know what they should be.

Diagnosing coronary trouble in women can be trickier because women often have less-clear symptoms than men, Henry said. Men tend to have chest pain or pressure, sometimes with shortness of breath. Women may have shortness of breath, nausea or other non-specific symptoms. “Subtle symptoms can often be the heart — yet most times they’re not,” said Henry, an assistant professor of medicine at University of Rochester Medical Center. His advice is to contact your doctor when you don’t feel right.

Still, Henry added: “Prevention is far more effective than any treatment we have.”

CSWINGLE@DemocratandChronicle.com

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