Heart health event in Columbia offers free screenings, disease prevention advice
Marie Moyer
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
MU Health Care is inviting people to stop by the Columbia Activity and Recreation Center on Saturday morning to check on their heart health.
Attendees will have access to free screenings and information on heart disease prevention.
According to America’s Health Rankings, Missouri ranks in the top 10 states with the highest percentage of adults who have reported a cardiovascular disease. The CDC also reported in 2023, Missouri ranked 10th in states with the highest rates of heart disease mortality with an average of over 188 deaths for every 100,000 people.
According to a press release, MU Health Care’s event will feature free heart health or AFIB screenings. Patients can also get their blood pressure checked and speak with an expert on body mass index measurements.
“I think this is a really great opportunity for people to understand at least what their cholesterol is, maybe where their health metrics, like their weight in relationship to where they classify,” MU Cardiologist Dr. Mary Beth Fisher said. “That allows them to start tackling some of those smaller problems.”
The event will also focus on healthy eating and physical fitness with a cooking demonstration and information on home-exercise and CPR.
“The majority of our health conditions that impact our cardiovascular health can be prevented or modified in a great way to start with that is with nutrition and with our activity,” Fisher said.
According to the American Heart Association, they promote eight essential goals for heart health:
Eating healthy
Staying active
Quitting smoking and other tobacco products
Getting healthy sleep
Managing weight
Controlling cholesterol
Managing blood sugar and blood pressure
This includes adults getting two and a half hours of physical activity per week, seven to nine hours of sleep per night and maintaining a blood pressure lower than 120/80 mm Hg.
MU Health Care also provides cardiac screening year-round.
The event will run from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Saturday.