Heart Health Awareness Video Receives National Acclaim
In August of this year, representatives of Atrium Health Navicent, through the support of Navicent Health Foundation, led community volunteers to create a music video for Project DASH (Doctors Against Stroke and Heart Attack). Originally posted to YouTube, the video has received over 5,400 views and, on October 27, received national attention when both the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association posted the video to their national Facebook pages.
"This project began as a way to reach our local community and raise awareness of the warning signs of heart attack and stroke. We are thrilled that national organizations like American Heart Association and American Stroke Association took notice of our efforts. American Heart Association has nearly one million Facebook followers while American Stroke Associationn has over 100,000. We are thrilled to reach this wider audience through this fun, educational video," said Margaret Boltja, M.D., neurologist and creator of the Project DASH.
Project DASH is a community service project that unites physicians in central Georgia to raise awareness of the risk factors of heart disease and stroke. Produced locally by Big Hair Productions and funded by Navicent Health Foundation, the Project DASH music video was filmed at The Medical Center, Navicent Health. Physicians and clinicians volunteered to record the song, participate in the video and promote the video in an effort to minimize heart disease and stroke risk among central Georgians. The song is an original composition by local musician and composer Christopher Griffin and Edward Clark, MD, a pediatrician with Atrium Health Navicent Beverly Knight Olson Children's Hospital was instrumental in having the song produced.
"Navicent Health Foundation is pleased to work with members of our local medical community to create educational materials and raise awareness in the fight against diseases like heart disease and stroke. We are thrilled at the national recognition our physicians have received for their efforts and glad to know their work is touching lives outside of our region," said Ellen Terrell, Chief Development Officer of Navicent Health Foundation.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States for both men and women, with no regard for race or ethnicity. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that one in every four deaths in the U.S. is related to heart disease. According to the American Heart Association, stroke is the fifth leading cause of death and the leading cause of serious, long-term disability in the United States. On average, someone in the U.S. suffers a stroke every 40 seconds, someone dies of a stroke every four minutes, and nearly 800,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.
About Atrium Health Navicent
Atrium Health Navicent was incorporated on November 17, 1994, as a nonprofit corporation whose primary purpose is to coordinate The Medical Center, Navicent Health and other affiliated entities in their mission of providing a comprehensive continuum of high quality, reasonably priced healthcare services to the region. Atrium Health Navicent has 970 beds for medical, surgical, rehabilitation and hospice purposes. The health system includes The Medical Center, Navicent Health, a nationally recognized tertiary teaching hospital; Atrium Health Navicent Beverly Knight Olson Children's Hospital, the region's only dedicated pediatric hospital; Atrium Health Navicent Baldwin and Medical Center of Peach County, Atrium Health Navicent, both rural critical access hospitals; Rehabilitation Hospital, Atrium Health Navicent, the region's oldest and most experienced rehabilitation provider; Pine Pointe, Atrium Health Navicent, which provides palliative and hospice care in homes and in its facility; Carlyle Place, Atrium Health Navicent, the area's first continuing care retirement community; Navicent Health Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Atrium Health Navicent; as well as diagnostic and home care services. For more information, please visit www.navicenthealth.org.