- Old Oak Country Club
- 14200 Parker Rd, Homer Glen, IL
Handzel Open 9 for Benefit of Orawiec Cardiac Fund
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