I Definitely Thought It Wouldn’t Happen To Me
Paramedics with Ken Allsup at Mahaska Health.
It can happen to you cause it happened to me. An upcoming event at Mahaska Health will help you learn more about heart disease, which is the number one killer of Americans today.
by Ken Allsup
January 22nd, 2023
Oskaloosa, Iowa – It’s pretty easy to say it’ll never happen or won’t happen to me. I know because I was one of those individuals.
February is Heart Month, a time to help spotlight heart health and raise awareness of heart disease, which is the number one killer of Americans.
Heart Month has been raising awareness of this killer for nearly 60 years.
With that being said, it came and went for me yearly, with me paying little to no attention.
This year is different, and for those who’ve read some of my posts over the past few weeks, heart disease has become all too real for me.
On December 16th, I laid down to nap in the afternoon, as there were meetings and other things we’d attended in the morning and early afternoon. However, I knew there were things to attend to in the evening, so a quick refreshing nap in the late afternoon was in order.
At approximately 4:15 pm, I woke up with pain in my chest, and after a quick sip of water, it was very apparent what was happening to me.
My wife Ginger quickly called 911, and an amazing dispatcher stayed on the line with her, gathering information to help update the Mahaska Health paramedics racing to my home.
In my opinion, those paramedics, in conjunction with the emergency dispatcher, saved my life. How lucky we are in Mahaska County to have folks who answer the call like that.
Not many get to say they survived ‘The Widowmaker.’
The reason for telling you all this? I never thought this would happen to me.
My bloodwork scores were all good. So, yes, I was overweight, but I was also active and kept busy sharing stories with the people in our community.
Post-heart attack, it allowed me to reflect on the signs and symptoms that I had been experiencing. Had I paid attention before, I might have recognized that I was in danger.
I plan to take the lessons learned from my experience to help others. I’ll be teaming up with Mahaska Health in February to help provide information about the screenings and other tests you can do to help protect yourself from this killer.
This road to recovery will be long, and I hope to help share that road with you. Not for me, but to help inform you, my community friends, about things you can do to protect yourself.
Please join me for the 2023 Community Cholesterol Screening Event scheduled for February 18th, beginning at 8 am and running until 11 am at Mahaska Health.
You can enter through Door 4 and be given the opportunity for a free cholesterol check, sleep quality assessment, blood pressure advice from health experts and providers, and healthy cooking tips.
Learn a little more about your heart and tips for being the healthiest you can.
To learn more, contact cardiac care services at 641.672.3174
