Mellanie True Hills is a heart disease survivor, heart health expert, and author of the multiple award-winning book, A Woman’s Guide to Saving Her Own Life: The HEART Program for Health & Longevity. After having a brush with death in emergency heart surgery, and a subsequent close call with a stroke due to an irregular heartbeat, atrial fibrillation (AF or afib), she pledged to leave behind her high-tech executive life to use her second chance to help others avoid heart disease and stroke, the #1 and #3 killers. In the U.S. alone, heart disease and stroke take nearly 3,000 men and women each day. Forty per cent of us will get, and die from, heart disease or stroke. But this is preventable, if you know what to do. Mellanie's mission is to spread awareness of how to save your own life. She provides a message of hope and encouragement, sharing how to take control, decrease stress, and protect against heart disease and stroke. Audiences consistently say, You saved my life. To further this mission, Mellanie founded the non-profit American Foundation for Women’s Health and StopAfib.org, a patient advocacy organization that provides information and support for men and women living with atrial fibrillation. She travels extensively, speaking out about heart disease, stroke, wellness, prevention, and patient advocacy, including at American Heart Association Go Red for Women events, hospital atrial fibrillation and women’s health events, and corporate and association events. Through StopAfib.org, the most visited heart arrhythmia site worldwide, Mellanie seeks to raise awareness of atrial fibrillation to decrease afib-related strokes and to improve quality of life for patients and their families by supporting and enhancing communication with their health care providers. The organization has partnered in Facing AFib, featuring TV star Susan Lucci, and AF Stat, featuring NBA Hall-of-Famer Jerry West, and has enlisted a Global Who's Who of atrial fibrillation and stroke experts to help with the cause. Successes include creating Atrial Fibrillation Awareness Month and lobbying with other organizations to gain U.S. Senate designation of September as National Atrial Fibrillation Awareness Month. She has testified before the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), spoken at the conference of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) of the US Department of Health and Human Services, and brought the voice of the atrial fibrillation patient community to think tanks, such as the Institute for Clinical Effectiveness Research and the Center for Medical Technology Policy. StopAfib.org has also been active in health policy discussions and convened the Atrial Fibrillation National Policy Roundtable in Washington, DC. The organization has also partnered in awareness-raising coalitions in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Latin America, and Mellanie is a co-author of the Action for Stroke Prevention coalition report, How Can We Avoid a Stroke Crisis in the Asia-Pacific Region? Mellanie educates, inspires, and motivates audiences to make lasting changes in their lives to protect their health. She also guides patients and caregivers to become better health advocates and helps health-care providers understand what it is like to live with atrial fibrillation and how to better help their patients. She is a regular contributor on patient perspectives to EP (Electrophysiology) Lab Digest, and has been featured by hundreds of media around the globe, including CNBC Asia, Reuters, Newsweek, PBS, Fox, ABC, NBC, and CBS. Her story and mission have been featured in Better Homes and Gardens, Heart-Healthy Living, More, Success, and USA Weekend. She also authored a chapter in the highly-acclaimed book, Sixty Things to Do When You Turn Sixty (Sellers Publishing).
Date Recorded: 8/5/2013
SITE: Site
Podcast of the interview Download:
No comments:
Post a Comment