CONSULTANT cardiologist Dr Andrene Chung was recently appointed the new chair of the Heart Foundation of Jamaica (HFJ). Her message: “Heart disease is largely preventable, but we have to work at it. If someone is willing to work at it, then we are willing to help them, because we have the tools to help them.”

Incorporated in 1971 as a voluntary organisation sponsored by the Lions Club of Kingston, the objectives of the Heart Foundation of Jamaica are: Prevention through education; early detection through screening programmes; and rehabilitation through education on healthy lifestyles.

“We want people to know that we are here and we want them to know that we can help them in a number of different ways; one is with education, one is with screening.” Dr Chung told the Jamaica Observer in a recent interview. “We can also refer patients to the appropriate area that they need to go to, if we find a problem.

“So basically, we just want the Jamaican population to know that we are here and that we know about heart disease, and we can help you to prevent and treat heart disease,” Dr Chung insisted.

Having been a member of the HFJ board for eight years, Dr Chung has practised cardiology for 19 years.

Her plan as chair of the foundation: Return to the foundation’s core values.

“I want to promote the activities of the Heart Foundation of Jamaica. I want us to get back to our core values, which our mandate is to lower the prevalence of heart disease in Jamaica, primarily through prevention and education,” she explained.

“So, educating our population about the risk factors for heart disease and about the amount of heart disease that we have and how important it is, and also helping them to prevent getting heart disease by addressing these risk factors,” Dr Chung continued. “I think that’s really where our niche should be, and that is what I want to emphasise.”

She told Your Health Your Wealth that heart disease is a “big problem”.

Heart disease is the number one killer in the world and it is also the number one killer in our region, that is the Latin America and Caribbean region, Dr Chung said, adding that about 40 per cent of all deaths are due to cardiovascular disease.

“We are no different here (in Jamaica),” she declared. “We have a particular risk because we have a high prevalence of the very important risk factors of heart disease, like hypertension and diabetes.”

The consultant cardiologist said 25 per cent of the Jamaican population is hypertensive and 15 per cent or so is diabetic.

“So we have a very large base of patients who have the risk factors for heart disease and it is a problem,” she insisted, adding that the HFJ has not moved away from its core value, but she thinks they need to be emphasised more.

She explained that over the years the foundation has expanded the services offered beyond just screening to offer more specialised tests and consultations with specialists.

“So we put in place some of these advanced tests here, so that patients can come and get them done at a reasonable cost. I think that is important, but I think it is even more important to expand our efforts in terms of preventing the heart disease,” Dr Chung explained.

According to her, a major hindrance to expanding these efforts is lack of money.

So she intends to have the foundation be its own advocate.

“We have to be more aggressive in terms of pursuing funding, and we have been over the last few years. So, we apply to various funding agencies because you know we are non-governmental and we are a charitable organisation, so we have no money,” she told Your Health Your Wealth.

“…We’ve also tried to increase our profile, so we do a lot of radio broadcasts, we are sure to highlight particular days which are of importance on the cardiovascular calendar, like World Hypertension Day, Heart Month, World No Tobacco Day, things like that,” she explained.

Dr Chung insists that if the HFJ concentrates on increasing its profile and attracting funding, it will be able to expand the base it wants.

After attending St Andrew High School for Girls, Dr Chung went straight to the University of the West Indies, first to the Faculty of Natural Sciences for a year before moving to the Faculty of Medical Sciences.

“I have always wanted to be a doctor, and when I went to medical school and I was doing my internal medicine residency, I came under the mentorship of two senior cardiologists who really nurtured me and got me involved in cardiology,” she shared about her journey. “And I found that through a combination of real love for the actual practice of cardiology and also being involved with people who were very nurturing, very caring and very inspiring, I got involved in cardiology.

“So I started practising with some cardiologists while I was at university, finishing up my residency and thereafter I went to London and did cardiology in London,” she recounted.

Dr Chung has now been practising medicine for 27 years.

Though the first woman to hold the HFJ post, Dr Chung thinks of her appointment as nothing abnormal.

“It feels normal to me. Because I have grown up in an era where I see women doing everything that they should and everything that men can do, so it is not surprising to me, it is not abnormal for me to be the chair of this foundation,” she said.

As the chair of the foundation that is committed to lowering the prevalence of heart disease in Jamaica, Dr Chung says that Jamaicans are receptive enough but are not concerned until something happens to them or someone close to them.

“What we want to do is get to them before that stage, but this is difficult,” she said. “Anything that involves lifestyle change is always difficult to get someone to do, and that is in any field and worldwide.

“So we know it’s difficult, and the only way that you’re gonna do it is to just keep doing it, and keep presenting it to people,” Dr Chung said. “So, I think they are receptive when you get them sitting down and they can hear the message, but I think it is to get the message to them. And the only way to do that is to just keep doing. Be relentless.”