This is... Community Health Improvement Week, CPR & AED Awareness Week and Men's Health Month

Guest Blog by: Suburban Hospital 

For 80 years, Suburban Hospital has prioritized community building and promoted health equity. We continue to advance solutions to address unmet needs aiming to keep all individuals well, safe, and empowered to live, work, and play in Montgomery County. Health improvement is often obstructed by systematic structural barriers such as access to quality health care, economic stability, and social context. Our focus remains on developing new strategies to address emerging barriers. The month of June brings attention to a few key health topics. To kick the month off, we recognize CPR and Automated External Defibrillator (AED) Awareness Week followed by Community Health Improvement (CHI) Week. Additionally, June is Men’s Health Month.

Community Health Improvement (CHI) Week
CHI Week 2024 runs from June 10th through June 14th and is a time to highlight partnerships and programs that aim to improve the health and well-being of individuals and communities and advance health equity to build stronger communities. Additionally, it is an opportunity for each of us to reflect and conduct a self-evaluation to see if there are behavioral changes that we can make to improve our health. Conducting the best possible self-care allows us to support our community. Suburban Hospital is committed to community improvement and encourages you to take action to improving your personal health and support activities that improve community health as a whole. Two ways to make an impact are to participate in available training opportunities such as CPR and AED training or to attend the 20th Annual Men’s Health Symposium, both highlighted below.

CPR and AED Awareness
Every year, the first week of June highlights the importance of CPR and AED awareness by spotlighting how lives can be saved if more Americans are educated on CPR and use of an AED. During cardiac arrest, a person’s heart stops beating, stopping blood flow to the brain and other vital organs. Approximately 70% of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur in the home, making every second of response time count in the person’s survival. You can play an active role in potentially saving a life by getting CPR and AED trained. Suburban Hospital is conducting Heartsaver AED/CPR certification training on June 18th. Please see details here: https://heartsaver-aed-pr.events.suburbanhospital.org/. For a comprehensive list of all available Heartsaver courses offered by the American Heart Association, please click here: https://cpr.heart.org/en/cpr-courses-and-kits/heartsaver. Your emergency preparedness will make a lasting impact on our community.

Men’s Health Month
In comparison to women, men in the U.S. are less likely to use preventive health services. As a result, they experience multiple health disparities such as poorer cardiovascular health, higher incidence of cancer, and lower life-expectancy by six years (Wippold et al., 2024). However, there are ways that men can take an active role in safeguarding their personal health and lower the risk of chronic disease. A first step is to build a strong relationship with your physician. This can be accomplished by keeping all medical appointments, addressing key concerns, being honest, maintaining open communication, and adhering to your physician’s instructions. Another step to achieve this goal is through health screenings. Both blood pressure and skin cancer screenings are available in Montgomery County to the public for free. Additionally, you are encouraged to attend public health forums such as the 20th Annual Men’s Health Symposium “Empowering Your Cardiovascular Health” occurring virtually on June 11th from 1-2 p.m. This event is a candid and open discussion on the importance of taking care of one’s heart and health with guest speakers Anthony Keller, MD, a cardiologist from Johns Hopkins Heart Care, and Jonah Czerwinski, a heart attack survivor.

References
Wippold, G. M., Abshire, D. A., Garcia, K. A., Crichlow, Z., Frary, S. G., Murphy, E. R., Frank, L., Johnson, L., & Woods, T. (2024). Lessons learned from a Community-Based Men’s Health Fair. Journal of Primary Care & Community Health, 15. https://doi.org/10.1177/21501319231222766