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Jonathan Fickies

UFT members who attended a UFT Welfare Fund health seminar on Keeping Your Heart Healthy heard a detailed presentation on heart disease, including a review of its symptoms and a discussion on how to identify a heart attack or stroke. “We need to move beyond treatment or prevention and instead promote health,” said Dr. Geoffrey V. Webber, an attending cardiologist at New York Presbyterian Hospital, who led the seminar at the union’s Manhattan headquarters on Oct. 20. Heart disease, Webber said, is “the elephant in the room.” There are 15 million heart attacks and 400,000 deaths worldwide due to heart disease each year, he said. Part of the problem, according to Webber, is that heart disease is “silent.” “If we can identify it, we can start thinking about how to promote a healthy lifestyle,” he continued. So what does such a lifestyle include? Webber’s answer may seem obvious, but it is important nonetheless: nutritious foods and plenty of exercise. Reducing stress and quitting smoking can also head off heart disease, he said. The seminar was part of the UFT Welfare Fund’s annual medical learning series. Contact the UFT Welfare Fund Health and Cancer Helpline at 1-212-539-0500 for more information.