Secondary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease (CVD):
Moving from Awareness to Solutions

GBHC hosted a health forum on cardiovascular disease for community health workers on March 26, 2008 at Brooklyn College.  The training event was funded by the New York State Department of Health Healthy Heart Program and co-sponsored by the Arthur Ashe Institute of Urban Health at SUNY Downstate, New York Methodist Hospital, and New York Presbyterian Hospital/Cornell University Weill Medical College.

103 people attended the session from a range of organizations, including community-based organizations, churches, home health agencies, hospitals, health plans, colleges, and city and state health departments.  The audience was comprised of health educators, nutritionists, outreach workers, program managers, health ministry staff, social workers, training coordinators, and students.

The 2008 CVD forum was the culmination of a series over the past few years that progressed from raising awareness to focusing on disparities in CVD.  (Past trainings have focused on cultural competency, health literacy, and CVD in particular populations (African-American, Latino, and South Asian).) The objective of this last training was to offer solutions on how to prevent CVD in our communities. Training objectives were to help participants:

1. Know the facts regarding heart disease and stroke, including prevalence rates in Brooklyn, local designated stroke centers, signs and symptoms, and common risk factors.
   
   
2. Know the rationale behind secondary prevention for CVD as a way to address risk factors and encourage behavior change among high-risk individuals and communities.
   
   
3. Identify several secondary prevention strategies for CVD, including disease self-management strategies and patient education strategies.
   
   
4. Identify ways in which secondary prevention strategies can be implemented in their facilities and communities, possible barriers to implementation, and ways to overcome them.

Program:

Welcome - Gretchen Maneval, Center for the Study of Brooklyn at Brooklyn College

Introduction - Kimberly George, MIA, Greater Brooklyn Health Coalition

Keynote Address: An Update on Secondary Prevention of CVD - Jason Lazar, MD, SUNY Downstate Medical Center

Panel Presentations on Secondary Prevention programs:

• Stanford University Chronic Disease Self-Management Model - Mari Brick, Arthritis Program, NYS DOH - click here for a slide presentation
  
  
• Diabetes Self-Management Initiative - Ana Marchena, MA, Metropolitan Hospital - click here for suggested readings
  
  
• Public Health Detailing Program: Hypertension and Cholesterol Campaigns - Michelle Dresser, MPH, Bureau of Chronic Disease Prevention and Control, NYC DOHMH - click here for a slide presentation
  
  
• Counseling African Americans to Control Hypertension Study (CAATCH) - Rosa Zhou, MD, MSc and Chamanara Khalida, MD, MPH, Clinical Directors Network - click here for more info
  
  
• F-A-S-T Stroke Awareness TV Campaign - Tiana Howland, RN, Healthy Heart Program, NYS DOH - click here for a slide presentation
  
  
• New York Methodist Hospital Cardiovascular Disease Outreach - Safiya Addison, New York Methodist Hospital - click here for a slide presentation
  
  
• Reports of roundtable discussions; Final Q & A - Carla Boutin-Foster, MD, Cornell University Weill Medical College - click here for notes

Pre-test/Post-test results:
Eight-item pre-questionnaires and post-questionnaires (identical) were completed by participants at the beginning and end of the session.  Across the 82 respondents to the pre-test, the average score was 5.40 (of a possible 8), and the 73 respondents to the post-test averaged a score of 7.25 (of a possible 8).  These results show a fairly significant increase in demonstrated knowledge as a result of the information presented during the event.

Products distributed:

1. Speaker bios - click here
2. Act F-A-S-T curriculum brochures - click here
3. A list of designated stroke centers in Brooklyn - click here
4. National Stroke Association’s ‘Stroke: Reducing Risk and Recognizing Symptoms’ booklet

Additional benefits:
Attendee reactions and written evaluations show that the forum successfully fulfilled its objectives.  The roundtable discussions, the keynote presentation, and the panel presentations were all cited as useful portions of the training.  We also observed rich and involved dialogues taking place during the roundtable discussions, and roundtable reporters’ notes indicated that participants shared information regarding existing and planned CVD prevention programs at various Brooklyn organizations.  As one participant put it in the evaluation comments, “I found the information very useful to my own practice.” Numerous participants asked for more training opportunities such as this one.