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Click Here to view a movie from Dr. Bahr Click Here to Read an Article about Dr. Bahr from Reader's Digest. Dear Deputy, EHAC is an acronym for Early Heart Attack Care. Basically, EHAC teaches about the 'soft symptoms' of a heart attack; it alerts the public that heart attacks have beginnings and that treating chest pressure early, before it becomes the severe, crushing chest pain of a heart attack, is what is important. EHAC is an alert system, "the smoke before the fire". As one person stated, "finding out about your heart's alert system is like winning a lottery." In conjunction with EHAC, Chest Pain Centers in Emergency Departments have been springing up across the United States in an effort to provide user-friendly care for these early heart attack patients. The acronym GOMER or "get out of my Emergency Room (unless you have severe chest pain)" is now being changed to "thanks for coming in and getting checked out. It could be important in your life". Thus we have an effective message and a developing delivery system, with a tremendous community penetration linking up the two. For the first time we have the potential to take heart attack deaths out of first place. Just imagine doing so. Heart disease has been the number one killer of the adult population since the turn of the century. Making it say "Uncle" before the year 2000 is our goal. The concept is based on disease prevention that motivates health promotion. True it is a back door approach, but it works. Hitting the backboards sometimes is just as effective as a "slam dunk". Seen in this light, EHAC occupies a position on the continuous spectrum with CPR. While EHAC is at the end opposite to CPR, EHAC provides more benefit when acted upon. It is imponant that you help to make EHAC a household word. Place the EHAC message on your refrigerator door. You can also become deputized as an EHAC supporter and wear the deputy badge. Why is it necessary that everyone be deputized? Think about it... heart attack is a national crisis... it is the war at home. Together we can do something about this war. When you wear your EHAC badge, you'll encounter opportunities to educate others. You will help carry the torch of the American Heart Association in fighting heart disease. Yes, indeed "heart attacks do have beginnings" and once this is realized it could be the beginning of the end of the number one health problem in the United States. The American Heart Association mission is the prevention of heart disease. Expanding upon this, we can see that prevention is not only reducing risk factors that cause coronary disease, but also vigilance in seeking medical help when heart attacks are just beginning, by treating the chest pressure which precedes chest pain. Some day we will realize that the best form of prevention is appreciation of the heart as a precious gift that provides for us a very healthful life. With this thought in mind we wish you a healthy heart and extend appreciation to those who carry the torch of the St. Agnes HealthCare System and the American Heart Association with a message that can help save others. Sincerely,  Raymond D. Bahr, MD, FACP, FACC Medical Director The Paul Dudley White Coronary Care System Saint Agnes HealthCare |
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