This American Heart Month, show your heart some love
Shamarial Roberson
February was American Heart Month, which made a good time to shine a light on the leading cause of death among African Americans across the country: heart disease. In 2017, heart disease caused about 23 percent of deaths among non-Hispanic Blacks. Tobacco use is one factor that can play a huge role in whether you or a loved one is at a risk of heart disease, especially in the Black community. African Americans who smoke could be placing themselves at much higher risk of heart failure than those who have never smoked or those who quit.
In fact, smoking-related diseases kill more African Americans each year than AIDS, car crashes, murders, drugs and alcohol abuse combined.
There are so many reasons to break the addiction to nicotine, and your heart health can be a great one. If you or someone you know uses tobacco, it may help to know that just one year after quitting, the risk of coronary heart disease is half that of someone who still smokes, and the risk of heart attack drops dramatically too.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that the vast majority of non-Hispanic Blacks who currently smoke want to quit. The good news is that the Florida Department of Health’s Tobacco Free Florida program offers free tools and services that are proven to help people quit smoking, and they’re available to all Floridians. These services include phone quit, web quit and local group quit classes in your area. Even things like two weeks of nicotine patches, gum or lozenges are available for free if medically appropriate and 18 years of age or older.
Show your heart some love. Visit tobaccofreeflorida.com or call 1-877-U-CAN-NOW (1-877-822-6669) to get information on quitting tobacco for good.
