PBS Heart Disease Program
February 5, 2007 by Lei
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
On February 14th, PBS will be airing The Hidden Epidemic: Heart Disease In America. I love shows like this because they’re emotional and use personal stories to show people why we should care about something as intangible as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and the myriad of other risk factors for heart disease. You can watch a preview and even the program itself online.
The TV show begins with the death of a 44-year-old from a massive heart attack.
AMI KANN: I woke up to take care of the baby. I think it was probably 400 or 500 in the morning. And Philip, he was snoring very, very loud. Louder than usual, and I couldn’t wake him or budge him. I had tried, because it was actually disturbing me, as exhausted as I was. And I took care of the baby and went back to sleep. And by 930, I tried to wake up Philip and I could not wake him up.
ADELE ACK: I got a call at work from my daughter, and I said, what’s wrong? And she said, don’t ask questions. Just get over to Philip’s.
AMI KANN: The way he looked, and the fact that he wasn’t moving, I–I knew. I knew he was dead.
NARRATOR: Philip Epstein died five days after his 44th birthday.
I feel numb even as I sit here re-reading that. Watching it is even more high impact.
Tags: pbs, heart, heart disease, hidden epidemic, cardiovascular disease, diseases, illness, health
