The South Asian Cardiovascular Center and Schaumburg Township Raise Awareness of Heart Disease Among South Asians

The South Asian Cardiovascular Center (SACC) at Advocate Heart Institute is joining forces with Schaumburg Township to raise awareness of the prevalence of heart disease among South Asians residents.

Leaders from the Township and SACC, located at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, gathered recently to sign a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on heart disease education and outreach. An estimated 18% of those living in Schaumburg Township are of South Asian descent and there are at least 90 South Asian businesses ranging from restaurants and grocery stores to beauty shops.

The SACC staff will be reaching out to the community with education on a disease that disproportionately affects South Asians. They suffer from heart disease at a four times greater risk than other populations and twenty-five percent of heart attacks also occur under the age of 40. Nearly 4 years ago, the Advocate Heart Institute launched the South Asian Cardiovascular Center to raise awareness with a combination of transformative community outreach, culturally-sensitive clinical service, and innovative research.

Among the first projects in Schaumburg Township will be to expand a highly successful restaurant project in the City of Chicago called SAHEB, (South Asian Healthy Eating Benefits). Working with four restaurants in Chicago, (Gaylord Chicago, Curry Bowl, Mysore Woodlands, and Viceroy of India Chicago), SACC was able to help the owners and their chefs to reduce the sodium content in their food by an average of 22.7%. With sodium reduction a huge step toward reducing heart disease, Schaumburg Township will launch SAHEB with three restaurants, Gaylord and Udupi, both in Schaumburg and Spice Grill in Rolling Meadows.

Other planned projects include consumer education in two area South Asian grocery stores, including Patel Brothers, Schaumburg and Hanover Park, as well as in two area beauty shops, Alka's Hair Studio in Streamwood and Hiba Hair Saloon in Hoffman Estates. Patel Brothers has already launched consumer education in its stores.

"Our goal is to empower the South Asian community with knowledge for building a healthier tomorrow," says Shoeb Sitafalwalla, MD, Medical Director of SACC. "We commend Schaumberg Township leaders for taking this major step toward improving the health status of their community."