Student Assembly Gets to the Heart of Stroke and Heart Attack Prevention

Lehigh Valley Hospital-Muhlenberg and the Weller Health Education Center have begun a unique pilot program to educate kids on the prevalence of stroke and heart attack in adults and how to recognize and prevent these illnesses in their own families.

Heart of the Matter is an interactive assembly for fifth graders about the circulatory system, the risk factors and signs of stroke and heart attack and how to get help in an emergency. Students also discuss healthy behaviors including proper diet and exercise that can help prevent strokes and heart attacks in the first place.

The Weller Center is presenting the pilot program to more than 1,300 students from the Bethlehem and Northampton area school districts between now and the end of January.

Lehigh Valley Hospital-Muhlenberg identified the communities in and around the two school districts as having a high risk for stroke and heart attack. The hospital is funding the initiative.

Although children may seem like an unlikely audience for stroke and heart attack awareness and prevention, they play an important role in educating adults and potentially saving lives.

“We know that the information we give kids goes bottom up and that most kids will talk with their families about what they learned in the program,” said Clare Lenhart, Weller Center health educator.

The program stresses the importance of acting fast if children think an adult is in trouble. “Prompt medical treatment for stroke or heart attack can save a person’s life. By understanding the symptoms, children can save a life by helping an adult get treatment as quickly as possible,” Lenhart said.

Each year, nearly 1.5 million Americans suffer a heart attack or stroke. As one of the first hospitals in Pennsylvania certified as a Primary Stroke Center by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), Lehigh Valley Hospital has a comprehensive team on call 24 hours a day to provide care most likely to result in a full recovery.

The program also aims to help children learn and practice healthy behaviors to reduce their own risk for stroke and heart attack later in life.

Students receive access to the Weller Center’s online student forum where they can anonymously ask more questions about the topic. Lehigh Valley Hospital-Muhlenberg also provides take home materials for the entire family.

For a schedule of Heart of the Matter presentations, call Lisa Liddington at 610-258-8500, ext. 26.

Based in Allentown and Bethlehem, Pa., Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network comprises Lehigh Valley Hospital – Cedar Crest & I-78, Lehigh Valley Hospital – 17th & Chew, Lehigh Valley Hospital-Muhlenberg and Lehigh Valley Health Services, which includes home health, hospice, rehabilitation, pharmacy, and health management. Advanced regional resources at these non-profit hospitals include a Level I Trauma Center with added pediatric qualifications, as well as burn, kidney and pancreas transplant, perinatal/neonatal, cardiac, cancer care and neurology and complex neurosurgery. LVHHN hospitals are designated national Magnet hospitals for excellence in nursing.

The Weller Health Education Center seeks to measurably improve kids’ lives by giving students the tools they need to make informed and healthy life choices. The region’s primary preventive health education resource for schools and organizations, the Weller Center provides engaging, interactive curricula-based health science programs and assemblies for students across Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The Weller Center was the first not-for-profit health promotion, disease prevention education facility of its kind in Pennsylvania. Serving more than 1.2 million students since 1982, the Weller Center remains the only such center in its 39-county service area and one of just 33 health education centers in the nation.

# # #