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Numbers from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reveal that nearly 1.2 million men died last year in the United States.

Of those, 28.4 percent (or 340,933) died of heart disease.

An earlier CDC study showed that 63 percent of all cardiac deaths in the country resulted from unexpected or sudden cardiac events. Half of those men were dead before they reached a hospital.

Stories of cardiac events are easy to come by.

One is from Ben Wellons, a Little Rock native. He had a friend in college who had a cardiac event and was resuscitated.

"They were able to bring him back from the use of a portable heart defibrillator," Wellons said, explaining that it served as a wake-up call for him about sudden cardiac arrest and what portable heart defibrillators can do.
"The folks who came in the ambulance then, they were trained responders," he said. "But the exact same device is out now that is fully automatic, voice automated; you can't mess it up."

Wellons wanted to put the same machines that saved his friend out in public where anyone could use them. He didn't find anything when he looked, so he did something about it. Two years ago he founded eMed, a Little Rock-based company. He is president of the company, which sells and maintains automated heart defibrillators.

But it is more than just selling a product.

He asked, "What if there was an organization that really helped provide these life-saving devices and had a total approach to build heart-safe communities? Formed partnerships with the corporation and the city to make it work? I mean really launch a heart-safe community campaign."

So far, eMed has been successful.

Wellons said, "We've done some things. We've been able to reach out to some of the communities and have them start down the path of being heart-safe."
Wellons said that the mission statement of eMed "from day one, has been to save lives and increase survival rates from victims of sudden cardiac arrest."

The company has seen progress.

Wellons said that so far, five saves have been calculated from the use of an eMed defibrillator. "Only one of them has allowed us to release their story. But she had been out walking her dog and collapsed. She was near a church, and they had one. Someone was able to go, get the defibrillator and brought her back."
Arkansas has had numerous stories of those being resuscitated after a cardiac event.

One of the most notable was over 20 years ago when on Nov. 7, 1986, as Springdale High School football player McKenzie Phillips, all of 17 at the time, collapsed during a Springdale-Fayetteville football game and was resuscitated by the Springdale Fire Department and by doctors in attendance at the game.

Due to extensive media coverage at the time, the incident became national news and was later featured on an episode of William Shatner's show, "Rescue 911."
Phillips recovered, played football at the University of Arkansas and is now working in management for Wal-Mart.

Other Health Concerns
The second leading cause of death for men is cancer.

The leading cancer in men is lung cancer; it also the top fatal cancer in women.
Cancers of the prostate, colon and rectum are the second leading causes of death among men, according to a study published by the National Cancer Institute. Nearly every 18 minutes, one American man dies from prostate cancer (about 83 men a day).

Quitting smoking can help a person avoid lung cancer, but prostate cancer is also one of the most preventable, and a regular blood test and a digital rectal exam done annually can catch the problem early.

"We understand that it's uncomfortable and that it's embarrassing, but it takes less than 10 seconds," said Helen Baldwin, director of the Arkansas Prostate Cancer Foundation. "Men can literally die from embarrassment."

The foundation uses an RV as a mobile exam unit to travel around the state.

Of new cancer cases, one-third are prostate cancer diagnoses.

A man is more likely to get prostate cancer than a woman is to get breast cancer.


June 2007

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