JAMMU: Carrying forward his noble mission to create awareness among the common people about the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases, Dr Sushil Sharma HoD (GMCH and SSH) Hospital on Sunday reached Panjore camp in the outskirts of Jammu city and held a day long health check up camp. Accompanied by a team of young doctors and paramedics Dr. Sushil Sharma examined people for prevalence of cardiac diseases and other health ailments. More than 200 were screened, evaluated, diagnosed and free medicines were given as per the requirements.
During his interaction with the patients, Dr Sushil stated that Cold weather affects heart and circulatory System. Winter is most common season for heart attacks and the risk of getting a heart attacks is more in winter than in summer. Systolic blood pressure levels were on average 3.5 mmHg lower in summer than in winter. When the weather is cold, heart must also work harder to maintain body heat and arteries get tighten, which restricts blood flow and reduces the oxygen supply to one’s heart. When combined, all these factors could trigger a heart attack, especially in the elderly or those with existing heart disease. “There is also the issue of hypothermia which occurs when the body temperature falls below normal .Heart failure is the leading cause of death in hypothermia cases”. He added. Continuing in the same vein Dr. Sushil claimed that children and the elderly population is at special risk because they may have limited ability to communicate or impaired mobility. Moreover, elderly people may also have lower subcutaneous fat and a diminished ability to sense temperature so they can suffer hypothermia without knowing they are in danger.
He advised people to keep their home warm by maintaining ideal temperature, staying indoors during early morning and late evenings , use a hot water bottle or an electric blanket to keep warm in bed and move around at least once an hour and avoid sitting still for long periods. He further recommended to have regular hot meals and drinks to give body the energy it requires to keep warm and wrapping up warm in layers of clothing. Wearing a few thin layers can help keep warmer than one thick layer. A lot of heat is lost from head, so wear a hat and scarf when going outside, he cautioned.
Prominent residents of the area Sarpanch Sham Lal, Randhir Singh and many others commended the efforts of Dr Sushil Sharma and his team for taking special care of the people belonging to their area and expressed their deepest gratitude.
Others who were part of this compassionate move included Dr. Dhaneshwar Kapoor, Dr Anitipal Singh, Dr Chakshu Mahajan. Paramedics and Volunteers who were part of the team included Kamal Sharma, Kashmiri Lal, Rajkumar, Suresh Sharma, Vikas Sabharwal, Gorav Sharma, Aman Gupta, Ankush Kohli, Lokesh Manni, Rajiv Vohra and Vikas Kumar.