Free talks for heart health

DO you know the warning signs of a heart attack?

A new joint project from the Heart Foundation, Ambulance Victoria, Monash University, and the Victorian Government has been designed to increase education around heart health for people over the aged of forty-five.

The effort is known as Heart Matters and Ambulance Victoria paramedic Georgie Redmond is heading program in Greater Bendigo.

“Monash University and the Heart Foundation have highlighted Bendigo to be at a high risk of heart disease and heart attacks,” she said.

“They’ve pointed out that one in four people don’t know a single heart attack warning sign.”

Ms Redmond is aiming to deliver free education sessions to community groups and businesses across the region, while also reminding people when to call an ambulance.

“Some people don’t want to ring an ambulance because they don’t think that chest pain is an emergency,” she said.

“Bendigo has quite a low rate of calling an ambulance and a high rate of heart disease, so it’s a really high risk.”

She said many people feel like they’re wasting paramedics’ time by calling triple zero, and some messaging during the COVID-19 pandemic about only calling an ambulance in an emergency has caused people to disregard the seriousness of chest pain.

“Chest pain is a medical emergency,” Ms Redmond said. “You’ve got to call us, we don’t mind. Ring us, if we turn up and it’s not anything than that’s great.

“People are hesitant to ring because they think they’re wasting our time, but it’s what we do.”

To get involved with the project, contact Ms Redmond at [email protected].