The Healthy Heart Project at Rochdale Village is a new community wellness initiative aimed at empowering African-American women to combat heart disease.
This collaborative community effort is being coordinated by Senator Shirley Huntley and Dr. Robert Evans, with assistance of the newly-founded Community Wellness Centers of America, LLC.
The wellness outreach is based on a new testing device for heart disease called Multifunction Cardiogram or “MCG,” a risk-free test with 90 to 95 percent accuracy rates in diagnosing ischemic heart disease.
On Saturday, November 13, members of the Jamaica community attended a full day of activities, including a complimentary sit-down lunch, and featuring the MCG screens. Volunteer physicians and health care technologists conducted the screenings at six stations for the one-day outreach.
“Heart disease is our number one killer in America. African-Americans suffer disproportionately and women’s symptoms often go unrecognized,” said Huntley.
“The people of Jamaica suffer a death rate from heart disease that is five times greater than the death rate nationally. These numbers are unacceptable. This is a health crisis made worse by the recent hospital closures,” added Evans.
New York legislators recently passed a resolution to conduct an impact study on the closure of St. John’s Queens Hospital and Mary Immaculate Hospital and how this will affect members of the surrounding communities with access to care.
