As a member of Chi Eta Phi Sorority, Inc., Harriet Bryant was excited to get everyone up and moving with exercises for the most important muscle in the body — the heart.
The local Gamma Eta Eta chapter of the organization hosted its Women’s Heart Health Seminar Saturday at Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church. With a theme of “Go Red,” the purpose of the event was to bring awareness to heart disease and stroke among women. Go Red for Women is an initiative of the American Heart Association. Mildred Cummings was one of many visitors. Along with the exercises, she enjoyed listening to the speakers and learning about heart health. She encourages more people to attend next year.
“They can learn,” Cummings said. “There’s things that they thought they may have knew about, but they really don’t know. There’s some things that we take for granted.”
Dr. Veronica Stevens, division chair of health programs for Sampson Community College, made a presentation along with Sabrina Pope. Some of the topics includes stress factors, the importance of keeping doctor appointments, staying active, and risk factors such as smoking.
“Smoking is one of the worst things that you can do to your body,” Stevens said about the hundreds of toxins and limiting blood flow to organs. “It’s poison and it’s going to cause your blood vessels to tighten up and constrict.”
Along with education, the event included hands-on activities such as a CPR station to teach people the techniques, which could save someone’s life one day. There were also opportunities for people to have their blood pressure, glucose and cholesterol levels checked.
Phyllis Goodman, president of the Gamma Eta Eta chapter, and other members believes it’s very important to educate women and the community about heart disease. At the start of the program, Goodman said it’s great participants to receive the information, but they’re responsible for doing more research and apply it to their lives.
“It’s like when you read the Bible,” Goodman said. “You may know all the scriptures, but if you’re not living the life, it’s just wasted knowledge.”
During the seminar, some of that information included eating more healthy foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, while limiting salt and sugar intake. Members also encouraged the audience to exercise for most day of the week. It was suggested that a simple walk can make a difference.
“A lot of people don’t realize that heart disease, heart attack is the number one cause of deaths for men and women in the United States,” Goodman said about the misconception of breast cancer being first. “It’s mostly preventable. There are some people born with congenital heart disease but for the most part, heart disease is preventable. It’s what we put in our body, it’s lack of exercise, too much salt, too much sugar, too much fat.”
She added that unhealthy decisions, especially with cooking, could led to clogged arteries from plaque buildup could cause health problems. Some of the examples involved cooking with lard, neck bones and ham hocks to season foods. A few other alternatives to season included beef or chicken bouillon.
“Anything you can have in moderation, but those are the products that will clog your arteries and cause the plaque buildup,” Goodman said. “We have to look at healthier fats to season our food with, like olive oil. That’s a healthy fat.”
Sampson County’s Gamma Eta Eta chapter of Chi Eta Phi Sorority started in 2017. Founded in 1932, the purpose of Chi Eta Phi is to elevate the nursing field and encourage others to become involved. It’s affiliated with groups such as Coalition for the Advancement of Minority Health and Welfare, Institute for the Advancement of Multicultural & Minority Medicine and the American Heart & Stroke Association.
