Importance of a Heart-Healthy Lifestyle

by: Karen Lee

Most Chinese new immigrants avoid the doctor due to either a lack of health insurance or a different cultural background. When they feel sick, they usually ignore it or use their own home remedies. Yet delay in treatment for certain illnesses may end up costing someone's life. Karen, our assistant to the director and children program coordinator, experienced a close call in her family last year. Here is her story:

Heart diseases, including heart attacks, is the number one killer in the world and often happens without symptoms. My husband’s weight was normal and would occasionally exercise. A year ago, he felt discomfort in his chest but didn’t go to see the doctor. He misread the symptom and thought that it would go away on its own. After three months of discomfort, he finally went to see the doctor. The doctor diagnosed a heart problem and immediately ordered different tests and cardiologist appointments. My husband ended up having open heart surgery due to the severity of his heart condition.

I wish our family had more information about preventive cardio measures as it would have helped us become aware of any problems earlier on and avoided such a scare. Knowing the importance of health-related education, I took on a new project called CARDIO. CARDIO is a free Mandarin online program that focuses on lifestyle changes that can lead to heart healthy lifestyles. I'm relieved that my husband recovered from his heart attack and hope to help others in our community learn from this experience too.