By Micah Satterly

February is National Heart Awareness Month and Clark Regional Medical Center hosted an event Tuesday to inform the community about the severity of heart disease, and ideas for prevention.

Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is the leading cause for cardiovascular disease worldwide.

Chuck Salters, a cardiologist at Clark Regional Medical Center, said it is important to inform people about the risk factors.

“We have different forms of presentations with other specialties also, but we always do this one around Valentine’s Day or at least in February,” Salters said.

Clark Regional Medical Center Director of Marketing Sarah Alexander, wanted to make sure the community was aware of this nationwide issue.

“We do this annually and it is open to the community,” Alexander said, “We wanted to host an education luncheon for the community. Our vision is making the communities healthier and we want to provide any education to the community we can to fulfill our vision.”

Women have twice the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease than men.

Potassium is essential to the body because it allows the heart to pump blood through your body.

Potassium-rich foods such as avocados, cantaloupe and blueberries, can be added to a daily diet.

Early risk factors for cardiovascular disease in patients with high blood pressure include being a smoker or exposed to secondhand smoke. consuming an unhealthy diet and a lack of physical activity.

Smoking harms nearly every organ in the body and 16 million Americans suffer from a disease caused by smoking.

For more information, visit clarkregional.org.