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Heartline Magazine July - September 2005
CEO’s Outlook
“So I am off now for my daily swim before a light supper and
a healthy glass of red wine.”
That’s how my last article in the April - June edition of
Heartline ended. On reading it when Heartline was published it became obvious
that in editing the article down to a useable length I had cut the hint about
red wine! So here goes:
“Enjoy a glass of red wine. Resveratrol, a compound found in
red fruit skins, may play a role in fighting lung cancer and asthma. It also
helps raise the level of ‘good’ cholesterol and reduces platelet stickiness
helping to guard against the risk of heart disease and stroke.”
Given the weather recently I’m afraid whilst red wine is in
swimming is out so I have taken to walking up the stairs, five flights, rather
than the elevator to get to my apartment.
Let’s now take a look at a number of events in the last few
months. Some fundraising, some about increasing the Foundation’s profile, some
educational but all with the aim of keeping Barbadians heart healthy.
March 21st Fundraising Concert ‘An
evening of music’
This was a delightful evening featuring The Barbados
National Youth Orchestra and was enjoyed by all who attended. It appeared that
despite extensive advertising many were not aware of the auction, so
consequently the proceeds were below expectation. There was very good press
coverage leading up to the event in both papers and on CBC TV. The Advocate
carried a report on the event in its Sunday March 26 edition. This event run in
partnership with the Arnott Cato Foundation will have generated a profit of
about $6,000.
FCTC Workshop, Jamaica 26th/27th April
The workshop had among its objectives the strengthening of
the participation and commitment of civil society in tobacco control, and
counteracting the "social responsibility" strategy of the tobacco industry.
Another strong objective of the workshop was to build capacity for advocacy to
ratify the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC)
and ensure its strongest possible implementation.
This was an excellent workshop at which much was learnt. Now
those lessons need to be put into practice as we press the Barbados Government
to ratify the FCTC by 30th November to ensure ongoing involvement in the
process.
Bingo
HFOB’s first foray into bingo took place on Thursday 2nd
June at Sherbourne. An excellent turnout of over 360 persons and the profit is
anticipated to be in the region of $7,000.
4th Annual Emergency Cardiac Care
Conference
The Heart Foundation of Barbados together with the American
Heart Association and the Inter American Heart Foundation hosted the 4th Annual
Caribbean Conference on Emergency Cardiac Care, held in Barbados, from the 17th
to 19th of June 2005. This important event brought together doctors, nurses,
paramedics, medical and nursing students and other emergency care practitioners
from throughout the Caribbean in an initiative aimed at improving training and
practice of health care in the field of resuscitation and intensive care. The
first conference was held here in Barbados in 2002, with other conferences in
Jamaica and Trinidad in subsequent years.
Healthy Lifestyle Seminar
This event took place on 7th July at Sherbourne Conference
Centre in partnership with Sagicor General Insurance Inc. Despite invitation
letters to Corporate Barbados sent out in mid-May, press advertising paid for by
Sagicor from mid-June, a press conference (28th June) which was well reported
and follow up telephone calls to a number of contacts, bookings were below 100
and attendance was disappointing.
However it is understood that the numbers were about the
same as 2003. Very reassuringly the number of CEOs attending was up considerably
on 2003. The round table discussion format continued to be appreciated and the
improved way of reporting back worked well. TV and press coverage (at least in
Business press) was very good. Overall the event was a success.
So what were the other hints that I didn’t share with you
last time:
“Reduce salt. Sprinkling more on top of all the hidden salt
in processed foods can raise blood pressure and put you at increased risk of
heart disease and kidney failure.”
“Stop smoking. No matter how late in life you give up,
within five years your risk of heart attack halves and after ten years your risk
level is the same as a person who has never smoked.”
“Fat chance. Take a good luck at the back of food packets –
trans fats show up as hydrogenated vegetable oil and are implicated in cancer
and heart disease. According to the Archives of Neurology, they may be linked to
the development of dementia.”
Do remember “EVERBODY HAS A HEART”
Adrian J.L. Randall, Chief Executive
Officer
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