Frederick Community College’s Nursing Club recently gathered club members and any interested students to walk around campus and discuss human heart disease in America.
Members of the FCC Nursing Club and interested students gathered in room 131 at Linganore Hall on Feb. 28, to walk around the campus grounds to talk about heart disease in the United States.
“For an hour we wanted to walk around Linganore building for all of us to bond and talk about any cardiac stories we may have,” said Karla Simpson, president of the Nursing Club “It’s very important for us to take a moment to reflect on what that means for certain people. Especially when heart disease is one of the leading killers of people in the United States. Particularly in women.”
Simpson said the idea was inspired by two professors who supervise are parents of heart children. Even she personally had experience with cardiac issues before.
“When I was swabbing students at Hood College for COVID in August 2020, I started having bad chest pains,” Simpson said. “It turns out my heart was producing a protein known as troponin, which releases when the heart is going into failure. Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy is caused by intense stress, which is really common in women.”
One of the professors’ heart children was there at the event, Middletown resident Alex Krichbaum.
“I had pulmonary stenosis when I was a baby. My pulmonary valve wasn’t fully opening, so the doctors had to go in and essentially rip it open. So now the right side of my heart is inflamed and experiences leakage,” Krishbaum explained. “I can experience sudden fatigue, especially when I do physical activities.”
That’s why she said she participated in the Heart Walk.
“It’s important to raise awareness for this kind of thing because it’s something that not a lot of people would really recognize, “she said. “Having this limiter on me is kind of this unspoken thing that can put you down. It’s not something you want to personally talk about that you just physically can’t keep up with other people.”
Jessica Ligsay, assistant professor of nursing and advisor of the nursing club, said her child was personally affected by cardiac issues.
“My daughter Claire was 3 days old when she needed open heart surgery,” she said, “She did amazing, at 2 weeks (old), they sent her back home, but we have to go back every now and then because it’s not a one and done thing. She’s going to need more treatment in the future, but it’s miraculous to see her running outside with us despite having right-sided heart failure. It’s really not something you can see on the outside that there’s hardships happening on the inside.”
The Nursing Club hopes to bring more students at FCC personal health awareness in the future. “
A thing that prevents a lot of chronic illnesses is a healthy lifestyle,” Simpson said. “That includes things such as a well-balanced diet, exercise, and most importantly, proper mental health resources. I would love to raise awareness of those kinds of things to students for my next two years here at FCC. Most importantly, they should definitely check out the Nursing Club and come to our events. We’re all really chill and fun to hang out with, and you’ll always get a free snack when you’re here.”
