Mayo Clinic and WomenHeart pull off another great success!

November 12, 2009February 14, 2015 ~ Carolyn Thomas ~ Leave a comment

mayo gonda bldg

Last month, I spent a weepy week feeling very nostalgic – in an oddly happy way. Because last month was the 8th annual WomenHeart Science & Leadership Symposium at the world-famous Mayo Clinic — a joint effort hosted by Mayo Women’s Heart Clinic and WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease. And I was feeling so nostalgic because exactly one year earlier, five months after my own heart attack, I had flown to Rochester, Minnesota to attend the 7th annual Symposium – the first Canadian ever invited to attend.

Each year, 50-60 women, all heart disease survivors, spend five days at this life-changing Symposium learning about heart disease, receiving support from other women and medical professionals, and developing skills to become advocates for women’s health back in their home communities. The only goal is to raise awareness of heart disease in women – our #1 killer.

In the video below, Symposium leaders Dr. Sharonne Hayes, Lisa Tate and Carol Allred share their thoughts about this unique cardiology training event for women.

This year, over 60 women – all heart disease survivors – gained invaluable insight into their disease, becoming, as cardiologist Dr. Sharonne Hayes describes: “women who go from being victim patients to gunning for bear!” Most importantly, Symposium graduates are “changed for life”, as Dr. Hayes says, inspired to return to their own communities to share what they’ve learned. Continue reading “Mayo Clinic and WomenHeart pull off another great success!” →

Do women need to worry about cholesterol?

November 10, 2009October 3, 2022 ~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 4 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters

Physician does a creative job of clearing up some confusing questions about cholesterol in his always enlightening “Musings of a Distractible Mind“.

He starts off by reminding us that the current protocols for treating high cholesterol date back to before he was practicing medicine.

“Some smart scientists had noticed that people with high cholesterol had a higher risk of heart attack. More scientists got together and decided that, based on the evidence, keeping a low cholesterol number was a good idea. To celebrate their decision, they went out to a dinner of bacon cheeseburgers and donuts.” Continue reading “Do women need to worry about cholesterol?” →

Why a good breakfast is good for your brain – and your heart

November 8, 2009June 18, 2011 ~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 3 Comments

“Breakfast is your brain meal!” claims Vancouver educator Terry Small, aka the Brain Guy. He once did a small and very unscientific two-week experiment on himself, just to test his theory that – as your mother always told you – breakfast is the most important meal of the day. If you still need convincing, you might want to try this experiment, too.

For Week #1, eat your normal low-fibre, low-protein, highly-processed breakfast every morning – like a gooey Maple Dip from Tim Hortons, for example. Or how about a nice big bowl of Froot Loops (the ones with that now-moribund Smart Choices healthy food symbol on the box)? The symbol apparently recommended this junk cereal to health-conscious American consumers until the entire program was yanked last month.

Dr. Eileen Kennedy, the Dean of Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, in a stupefyingly bizarre statement to the New York Times, defended the Smart Choices logo on Froot Loops because it was “based on government dietary guidelines and widely accepted nutritional standards”. (Widely accepted on what planet, Dr. Kennedy?) Continue reading “Why a good breakfast is good for your brain – and your heart” →

Cardiologist sues his hospital in whistleblower case

November 6, 2009November 5, 2009 ~ Carolyn Thomas ~ Leave a comment

The Massachusetts Healthcare Whistleblower Act is a state law designed to protect health care providers from retaliation when they report problems in their medical facilities – retaliation like getting fired. Under the act’s protection, a Boston cardiologist last week filed a lawsuit against his former employer, Lahey Clinic Medical Center, claiming that he was fired for questioning ties between his hospital and the medical device company, Medtronic.

Dr. David Gossman, until September 9th of this year, was assistant director of the cardiac catheterization lab at Lahey, a non-profit teaching hospital affiliated with Tufts University School of Medicine.

His lawsuit claims that two senior cardiologists at the clinic pressured other doctors at the hospital to increase use of products manufactured by Medtronic, which makes the industry’s broadest line of heart valves, stents and angioplasty products, implantable cardiac defibrillators, pain pumps, and many other medical devices. It alleges that one of the cardiologists earns “substantial yearly income” serving on the Medtronic speakers’ bureau and that his wife has had a “lengthy employment” with Medtronic and holds stock in the company.

For more about this case, read: “I Was Fired For Fighting Hospital’s Ties With Medtronic” at my sister site, The Ethical Nag.