"THE HEART OF THE MATTER"
a special program of the National Emergency Medicine Association (NEMA)

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Week: 593.5 

Guest: Martha Hill, PhD, Health information, Behavioral Sci. Johns Hopkins,New President, American Heart Association. 

Topic: Blood pressure/Young blacks

Host/Producer: Steve Girard 

NEMA: Gauging high blood pressure at it’s beginnings...coming up...  

SPOT: 15 years in the prevention of heart disease, stroke and trauma- the National Emergency Medicine Association. Call 800-332-6362.  

NEMA: Martha Hill is the new president of the American Heart Association...but as the research director at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, she’s hoping to help better target outreach and care...  

HILL: One group that has been very, very little studied...that has very serious high blood pressure problems...are young males who are African American. High blood pressure doesn’t have any symptoms, that people who have it tend to feel very well, until they’ve developed advanced complications. And for young men who are otherwise healthy, it’s not part of their gestalt, you know, to go to the doctor routinely. Very often these men who have high blood pressure don’t know they have it. And so, we are looking at using nurse practitioners and community outreach workers to help us understand how we can adapt the care, so that it’s sort of culturally salient and relevant, and we can provide the care in a way that will be acceptable.

NEMA: Hill says though nearly every patient in her study knows someone heavily affected by high blood pressure, most still do not stick with treatment for their own condition. I’m Steve Girard at The Heart of the Matter.