Cardiovascular  disease can take many forms including: high blood pressure, coronary artery  disease or stroke. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) heart  disease and stroke is the world’s largest killer, claiming 17.5 millions lives  a year. In the United States,  more than 79 million people have some form of cardiovascular disease. About  2,400 people die every day of cardiovascular disease. More people die from  heart disease than from all types of cancers, respiratory illnesses, accidents,  and diabetes combined. We can change these bad statistics by controlling  certain factors that play an important role in a person’s chances of developing  cardiac disease – these are called risk factors, major of them being: high  cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity.                    

To  help people better understand their personal risk for cardiovascular disease, to  raise awareness about risk factors, to promote healthy life style, and to help  those with no insurance and no resources for testing, Orawiec Cardiac Fund of the Polish American Medical Society was  established. Founder of the Cardiac Fund, Dr.  Bronislaw Orawiec, started free screening for total cholesterol, lipid  fractions (HDL – High Density Lipoproteins, LDL – Low Density Lipoproteins,  Triglycerides), blood pressure, glucose, body mass index and overall health  risks in 1996. Since then, Dr. Orawiec has been conducting free, 2 to 4  day-long screenings for Polish community every year. Hundreds of people have  benefited from these screenings, many of them having their tests done for the first  time in their lives.                    

It is worth mentioning that while treatment and control of  the major cardiac disease risk factors are not efficient in the American  population in general, the statistical data amassed by Dr. Orawiec during  screenings clearly indicates that the Polish community is even less aware of  the risk factors and ways of preventing heart diseases.                    

The goal of the Cardiac Fund is to support fighting cardiac  diseases in the Polish-American community in Chicago – problem that affects many of us and  our loved ones. With the help of donations, we hope to do even more – reaching more  people and providing them with more services.                    

It  is never too late or too early to begin improving heart health. Some risk  factors can be controlled, while other cannot. But, by eliminating risk factors  that one can change and by properly managing those that one cannot control, it’s  possible to greatly reduce risk of heart disease, heart attack and stroke.

For more  information, please contact:

Bronisław Orawiec, MD, PhD, FACC, FCCP, FABI                    
5428 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Chicago, IL   60630                    
Tel.  773.594.1515                    
Fax:  773.594.1674                    
E-mail: drorawiec@aol.com
www.drorawiec.org