Agencies observe February as American Heart Month

JACKSON, TN (WNBJ) - The CDC says heart disease is the leading cause of death among men, women, and people of most racial and ethnic groups in the United States.

With February being American Heart Month, many organizations like the West Tennessee Medical Group are focused on improving the cardiovascular health of people in our community.

“What we like to do here is to help the patients become in control of their own health and we can only go so far. So, we need the assistance of the patients to do their part,” said Tommy L. Miller, the Interventional Cardiologist with West Tennessee Medical Group Cardiology.

Heart month is dedicated to educating the public on heart disease.

Tommy Miller, a cardiologist with the West Tennessee Medical Group talks about things that can better someone’s heart health.

“Some of the things we can change is smoking, stop smoking. We can exercise, diet modification, taking your medications that our physicians and other primary physicians prescribe,” said Miller.

The Jackson-Madison County Regional Health Department explains some statistics on heart disease in the state.

“Here in Tennessee, our heart health is the number one killer. One in every fourth person will have heart disease if they have those other comorbidities,” said Amanda Johnson, a Public Health Educator with the Jackson-Madison County Regional Health Dept.

The health department describes some risk factors of heart disease.

“There are some contributing factors to that. If you have comorbidities such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, morbidly obese, and inactive and don’t exercise those are some contributing to heart disease,” said Johnson.

Both agencies say heart disease can affect anyone and suggest that people discuss risk factors and preventive measures with a physician.