Family Heart Makes a Big Impact at Pri-Med South for Heart Month!

The Family Heart Foundation attended the annual Pri-Med South meeting in Ft. Lauderdale from February 6-8 and sponsored several high-impact events at this large meeting of primary care clinicians!

As part of our Cholesterol Connect program, we performed onsite lipid screening including LDL-Cholesterol and Lp(a) for >450 healthcare practitioners and our Care Navigator Aurora Sullivan had a chance to interact with many clinicians over the 3-day conference.

We also conducted a survey of everyone who took part in the screening event, and the survey results were very intriguing:

• 89.4% of respondents did not know their Lp(a) level

• 62% did not regularly test Lp(a) in their patients

• 54% did not know their LDL-C level and only 24% reported that their LDL-C was < 100mg/dl, in the LDL Safe Zone.

• Only 50% of these clinicians we surveyed had ever diagnosed a person with familial hypercholesterolemia (FH)

The Family Heart team at the booth had a chance to engage many clinicians and distribute educational materials on Lp(a), FH, and LDL-C, as well as postcards highlighting the nationwide availability of the free, at-home Cholesterol Connect program. It was a hectic but rewarding three days!

As part of the ongoing GOAL initiative to improve awareness, treatment, and control of LDL-Cholesterol, the Family Heart Foundation sponsored an expert theater on Friday, February 7 featuring Dr. Heather Johnson, the director of preventive cardiology for women’s services at Baptist Health in Boca Raton, FL.

The title of Dr. Johnson’s presentation was “Opportunities to Reduce the Rising Tide of Cardiovascular Disease Through Better LDL-C Management” and the session was sold out with a standing room only attendance of 230.

Dr. Johnson gave a superb lecture, the audience was clearly engaged, and feedback was very positive. In fact, Dr. Johnson was still answering questions from attendees 30 minutes after the program ended!

#HeartMonth is off to a great start for the Family Heart Foundation, and we look forward to hosting additional in-person educational sessions and screening events for clinicians at Pri-Med Phoenix (May), Pri-Med West (May), and the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) meeting in June.