HEALTH: Dijae Allie Azim first article on Health Tips

Promote Healthy Diets To Prevent Cardiac Arrest In Sierra Leone Sierra Leonean national and medical practitioner in the United States of America, Dijae Allie Azim, is imploring Sierra Leoneans to promote healthy diets to prevent cardiac arrest. Azim says efforts have been spent in finding effective strategies to prevent Cardiac arrest and that one of the prime causes of cardiac arrest is Ischemic heart disease. “We should encourage efforts to promote healthy diet and exercise and stop tobacco smoking,” she continued, adding that measures such as Blood pressure control, Cholesterol lowering and other Medical therapeutic interventions can be used. Abstracts of Dejae’s article: Cardiac arrest is a medical emergency in certain situation and is potentially irreversible if treated late. Unexpected cardiac arrest can lead to death within minutes. This is called sudden cardiac death (SCD). The treatment of cardiac arrest is ‘Immediate Defibrillation’ if a "shockable "Rhythm is present while CPR is used to provide circulatory support. Or to induce a "shockable” Rhythm; a cardiac arrest is synonymous with clinical death. A cardiac arrest is usually diagnosed clinically by the observation of the carotid pluses. Lack of carotid pulses is the GOLD standard of clinical death. Myocardial infarction or hearts attack occurs when blood flow to a part of the heart is blocked for a long enough time resulting to part of the heart muscles to damage or die. The most common underlying causes of heart attack is Coronary artery disease (CAD), narrowing of the arteries causes less flow from the heart muscles and completely blocks the artery and flow of blood and causes blood clots. The risk factors are smoking of tobacco, physical inactivity, Obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, eating fatty foods such as too much of palm oil. Treatment of Heart attack or myocardial infarction: (Administration of Oxygen), Aspirin 81mg or 325mg daily, Nitro glycerin tabs, pain medication, defibrillators that can restart the heart if it stops. Signs and symptoms: chest pain, angina, shortness of breath, dizziness and sweating, chest pain as if some heavy elephant is sitting on your chest, pain radiates from chest to shoulder, jaws and neck. When the breathing stops the heart stops 0 to 4minutes - clinical death, 4 to 6 minutes brain damage possible 6 to 10minutes, brain damage likely after 10minutes is irreversible brain damage which is biological death. Are you prepared for the first response, the ABC of CPR when you find someone unresponsive, call the person, tap or gently shake the person, if the person did not respond call an ambulance or call someone to get a van to take the unresponsive person to the hospital. While you are waiting for the ambulance you (witness) should be the first person to initiate CPR immediately by doing the ABC of CPR: A- air way: open the mouth by tilting the head and lifting the chin of the unresponsive person will move the tongue away from falling back on the throat and allow an open air way. B- Seal the nose: If the person is not breathing give two (2) slow breathes per 3 seconds, place your mouth around the person’s mouth with a tight seal, if possible, use a mouth piece or protective for fluid barrier. While giving the 2 slow breaths make sure the chest raises for mouth barrier you can use a tiny plastic bag and cut it like the shape of the mouth. C- Circulation: after 2 slow breaths for 5 seconds, check for signs of circulation by observing the chest, coughing, good skin color, pink if the person is not breathing and blue color when no circulation. Start CPR 2: For CPR to be effective, compressions need to be fast. 30 compressions should take about 18 seconds, after 2 circle check for pulse, but if you check the carotid pulse ABD are present continues CPR for 2 seconds and stop. If you CHECK the carotid and there are no pulses, stop the CPR and tell the health care team, no respiration, person is gone. When breathing and the heart stops suddenly, sometimes it’s reversible if CPR is initiated on time and irreversible when CPR is not initiated on time and thus becomes biological death. Heart attack is myocardial infarction medical term and it is caused by Coronary artery disease by narrowing the Arteries and blocking blood flow and thus causing blood clots and often leads to cardiac arrest. As for CPR, every citizen should be trained how to perform CPR for people to always be able to check the carotid pulses when they find an unresponsive person suffering from such a condition, the carotid pulses is found on the neck area. Cardiac arrest needs an emergency care, when breathing stops the heart will stop, the first 0 to 4 minutes; if CPR is not performed the brain will suffer from clinical death. 4 to 6 minutes if no CPR is done, the brain will experience brain damage and if 10 minutes after cardiac arrest if no CPR is done the brain will experience irreversible brain damage, what we call biological death. My goal is for everyone to know how to perform CPR in Sierra Leone, when I visit my town Kambia and my Orphanage in Kambia I will make sure I train people to perform CPR, it saves lives.

Hope for patients with Burkett Lymphoma in Sierra Leone

Since Rowaca Cancer Group started operations in 2007 as a non-governmental organization on cancer, our efforts have over the years centered on helping children with cancer. Most of the cases brought to us have often been cases of swollen neck and other swellings in the body with family members citing ‘Morpia’, a local name for the ailment in the Temne dialect, Northern Sierra Leone. We continuously raise the issue at our normal meetings citing lack of research on Morpia until we get the approval of the country’s forensic pathologist, Dr. Owizz Koroma, who carryout in-depth studies on Morpia and joined our call for intervention. As a result of our efforts and the support of Dr. Moses O. M. Sesay, a retired surgeon and former Member of Parliament, we were able to know that Morpia is a case of benign or malignant form of tumor, which normally is Burkett Lymphoma. We were made proud by Dr. Owizz Koroma when he pronounced during one of our cancer meetings that doctors at the Connaught Hospital are doing a research on Morpia. Today, doctors are looking at the issue of Morpia with efforts being made to address Burkett Lymphoma in the country with a team of medical doctors to be in Sierra Leone soon and will be working with doctors in Freetown and in the North. We shall be updating you of development as efforts to bring smiles on the faces of people with cancer continue in Sierra Leone. Alpha Bedoh Kamara Founder and team leader.