This post was authored by Kim Allan Williams, Sr., MD, FACC, president-elect of the ACC.

Last week the College’s CardioSmart program, based on the Association of Black Cardiologist’s (ABC) Spirit of the Heart program model, held a Community Leaders Forum in South Bronx, New York. This program brought together panelists from across the patient spectrum to discuss patient and community engagement when it comes to health outcomes, the importance of knowing your numbers, women and metabolic syndrome, LGBTQ youth, the importance of leading by example, and more.

Speaking at the event, Icilma V. Fergus, MD, FACC, president of ABC, noted that the Spirit of the Heart program has been a successful, innovative way to know your numbers since it has reached more than 500,000 people, and has provided health screenings for more than 8,000 people, all in underserved communities since its inception.

Also last week, CardioSmart took part in a free health screening with special guest retired baseball player Dwight “Doc” Gooden. The community event was a great success with an estimated 125 screenings. In addition to the screenings, information on metabolic syndrome was given, which has become “the number one public health issue facing adults in the U.S.” It is estimated that 25 percent of the U.S. adult population meets the criteria for a diagnosis of metabolic syndrome. Further, patients with metabolic syndrome are three times more likely than patients without metabolic syndrome to have a stroke or a heart attack, and twice as likely to die from these events. (Read more about what the College is doing to address this issue as part of the Cardiometabolic Health Alliance in a previous blog post.)

Other innovative ways of knowing your numbers include blood pressure checks during men’s haircuts. It was announced recently that the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has awarded Ronald G. Victor, MD, FACC, director of the Hypertension Center in the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, with an $8.5 million grant aimed at enlisting African-American barbers in the fight against hypertension.

Victor led a study in 2011 – the BARBER 1 Study – that showed if barbers offered blood pressure checks during men’s haircuts and encouraged patrons with hypertension to follow up with physicians, hundreds of lives could be saved annually. With this grant, Victor intends to conduct a new trial to test the effectiveness of barbershop hypertension programs and whether expanding such programs is feasible and cost-effective.

As part of its Strategic Plan, the College is continuously looking for innovative ways to improve population health, and is continuing to build partnerships with organizations that help in this endeavor. Consistent with the “triple aim” of lowering costs, improving patient outcomes and improving population health, Spirit of the Heart can help reduce the overall burden of cardiovascular disease by improving the health of those at high risk in the underserved communities.  Stay tuned for additional Spirit of the Heart screening events later this fall in Atlanta, GA. I encourage you to continue to think of innovative ways to help your patients know their numbers!

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