Dr. Donna Patterson, a Board-Certified Nurse Practitioner with over 10 years of healthcare experience, shares her expertise on heart health with a focus on the African American community. Born and raised in Jamaica, Dr. Patterson has dedicated her career to helping clients achieve their health and wellness goals. With advanced degrees from Clayton State University and Augusta University, she brings a wealth of knowledge to the discussion about preventing heart disease through lifestyle changes and self-advocacy.
Why do African Americans have higher heart disease rates?
Heart disease is preventable, and if it was genetics we would not be able to prevent it. I think it’s African American traditionally does not have access to care as maybe the other cultures. If you were to compare, you’ll find that we have a greater risk of developing obesity and obesity leads to heart disease. Obesity is the underlying factor for high blood pressure, which is considered heart disease, high cholesterol, which is plaque buildup in your arteries and heart which can lead to heart attack and stroke, those are all heart disease, and of course you have congestive heart failure, when it’s under stress the heart will fail. It will not function at its full capacity, and that’s when you have congestive heart failure. So definitely. It’s lifestyle, poor access to care.
One thing I want to point out, too, is that African Americans don’t like going to the doctors, especially the male, and this may have stemmed from back in the days, we don’t trust the health system because of maybe the Tuskegee experiment, and we feel that it was African Americans that were in those experiments, and so there’s a lack of trust where the healthcare system is concerned.
There’s also researches that have been done that showed that when African Americans are in a hospital setting they do not get the same quality of care and referrals as does the other cultures do, and so if you ask for pain medication, you’re going to get push back, because now you’re seeking. If you need a cardiologist, you won’t be easily referred to see one, or you won’t be easily referred to see a neurologist as the others would be. And it’s because of bias, in the hospitals, in the healthcare setting.
What should African Americans be aware of in order to help mitigate bias and get the care that they need?
First of all, what we should be aware of is our own health, and learn how to advocate for ourselves. But before you become a number in the health system, you want to start by prevention. You want to learn what can I do to take care of myself? So I don’t need to go to the hospital for high blood pressure, or I don’t need to go see a doctor for a heart attack or a stroke by taking those preventative measures, watching what you eat. Making better food choices, healthier lifestyle, exercising and moving more. You are mitigating those issues that could potentially arise when you get to the hospital setting.
In your professional opinion, what has been the single most effective way to mitigate heart disease and have a healthier heart?
I would definitely say, healthy lifestyle. Healthy lifestyle reduces the risk factors for cardiovascular disease, for high blood pressure, which is known as the silent killer, and so many people are walking around with high blood pressure, and they don’t even know it. So healthy lifestyle, watching what you eat, watching your sodium intake, reading food labels and making sure that you’re using fresh vegetables versus canned vegetables, making sure that you’re reducing the amount of fat in your diet, dietary fat. You want to make sure that you’re doing good fat and using healthy oils instead of just eating, using vegetable oils that are unhealthy.
So healthy lifestyle. How much you eat! It’s not about what you eat so much, but how much of it that you consume, and so, being able to portion size your meal and eat healthier amount and not stuff yourself. That is basically healthy living, and if you’re doing that and exercising, moving your body more you will mitigate the risk factors for heart disease, for sure.
Are there any other myths that you’d like to debunk about heart health that you just see on the regular from African Americans or people of color?
Not necessarily a myth, but most people feel like they don’t need to see or go see a doctor if they’re not sick. They’re like, “Well, why do I need to go in for a checkup? I feel fine,” and I think I see that so often and most times, too, it is usually the women or the wives that are dragging the husbands to the hospital. They’ll be having chest pain, and then like, “Oh, I’ll just go lay down for a little bit.” I want people to know that heart attack is real and high blood pressure is real, high blood pressure can cause stroke. High blood pressure can cause kidney failure.
So when, if and when you get to the point where you have these symptoms, make sure that you’re going to see a healthcare professional. Don’t just say “Oh, it’s indigestion,” or “Oh, I’ll just go lay down. I think I’ll feel better later.” Make sure when it comes to your chest area where your heart and your lung resides, do not put that off at all. Always seek help, even if it’s indigestion. It’s better to be told that it’s nothing than to find out that you had a heart attack, and now your heart is so badly damaged because you turned up too late that we can do nothing about it.
Have there been significant strides in getting better access to care for African Americans?
The medication has gotten better and definitely, there’s more access. There has been advances in how we care for patients, including cardiovascular patients. The medications, of course, all come with risk factors, and so yes, most people, most men especially, may not want to take certain types of medication, because if you’re taking this specific, some specific types of blood pressure medication, it can cause erectile dysfunction, and no men want to mess with their stuff.
And so they refused to take. I’ve actually had patients who said, “I don’t want to be on this medication. I don’t want to be on blood pressure medicine” when their pressure is 197 over 112, which is extremely high.
And so now it’s all about education. If you’re not going to make the change by lifestyle, you’re going to cut out the greasy food and the salty food, and the pizza and the mac and cheese, and all this stuff that can potentially lead to high blood pressure, then we have no choice but to put you on the medication to keep you healthy.
And so we have to understand that it’s a choice. Either you’re going to be on medication or you’re going to live healthy lifestyle. But one way or the other, if you are diagnosed with high blood pressure, this can kill you, and so it is necessary that you take the steps to prevent having to be on the medication, in the first place, that can cause you to not function because you may feel like, “Oh, I’m not going to be considered a man, or as much of a man if I take it, and my stuff doesn’t work.” So what are your options? Healthy living, healthy lifestyle, there’s no two way around it.
Where can people find Rejuvenere Health?
We are located in McDonough, Georgia. We’re at 2023 Jonesboro Rd, in McDonough, Georgia. We can be found on Instagram at Rejuvenerehealth. That’s also our website, www.rejuvenerehealth.com. We’re also on Facebook and Tiktok.
