As part of Black History Month and Heart Awareness Month, cardiac surgeon Dr. Hilton Hudson will visit Bermuda this week and share important information with residents in a free education forum at the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Hamilton on Thursday.

The BF&M seminar will begin with a free health testing for glucose, cholesterol and blood pressure between 5 and 6 p.m., followed by the seminar hosted by Dr. Hudson between 6.30 p.m. and 7.30 p.m.

In his book `The Heart of the Matter: The African American's Guide to Heart Disease, Heart Treatment and Heart Wellness', Illinois-based cardiac surgeon Dr. Hudson looks into the issue of heart disease amongst blacks.

According to the American Heart Association, the black population has one-and-a-half times greater risk of heart disease than the white population. The seminar will provide Bermudians, in particular the Island's black population, with invaluable information on how to maintain a healthy heart and lifestyle.

"What patients want from doctors is competence and kindness," Dr. Hudson wrote in the preface of the book.

"But kindness, like love, must sometimes be tough. Here, the toughness is in the fact: African Americans are more likely than whites to die of heart disease.

"At the same time, kindness insists that this discrepancy in mortality rates is partly within our power to control. By eating well, exercising and avoiding the substances that abuse the heart, nearly all of us can, in Maya Angelou's phrase, `take our wellness in hand'."

During a telephone conversation with Dr. Hudson last week, the surgeon and clinical director of Cardiothoraic Surgery at Rockford Health Systems in Rockford, Illinois, gave a preview of what the public can expect to hear during the forum.

"We will talk about the reason why there is such a disparity between African Americans and Whites; the prevalence of heart disease; why we die sooner and have a more severe disease and preventative measures once it has been diagnosed," explained Dr. Hudson whose visit is being sponsored by BF&M Insurance Group.

"We will also talk about common symptoms of heart disease, physical findings, what should happen when you get to the hospital, what should happen when you leave the hospital and we will also talk about diet and the lack of exercise amongst African Americans."

In the book which Dr. Hudson co-wrote with Howard Stern, Ph.D., the retired Milligan Professor of English at Wabash College, the following facts were revealed:

Coronary artery disease is the number one killer of African Americans;

African American men develop coronary artery disease earlier than white men;

African American men with coronary artery disease are more likely to die than white American men who suffer from the same disease;

African American women with coronary artery disease are more likely to die than white women who suffer from the same disease; and

African American smokers with coronary disease are at higher risk of death than white American smokers with coronary disease.

It was noted that those who stop smoking or control their blood pressure decrease their risk of death from coronary artery disease. And the more they know about coronary heart disease, the better the chances are of not being killed by the disease.

Education is vital, says Dr. Hudson.

"We are disproportionally affected by most diseases...AIDS, hypertension, coronary disease and one of the major reasons is not just lack of income or racism but, on our part, a lack of education," stressed Dr. Hudson.

"Also, and we'll touch on this too, we have lost a lot of inner pride and have a lower self esteem as a result of environmental factors. We don't seem to care about ourselves as other folks do and consequently put things in our body that most folks do not."

When asked about his feeling in regards to fast food, Dr. Hudson responded bluntly: "One hundred percent bad for you! It is targeted to black people, if you look at the Burger King and McDonald's commercials, they didn't put those black people on those commercials for nothing.

"You don't see a lot of black people on Revlon commercials or a lot of black people on tennis commercials, but when it comes to cigarettes or alcoholic beverages-type commercials it is full of black people and is done for a reason."

Statistics show there are more than a million new or recurrent heart attack cases each year in the United States. Death results in about a third of those cases.

"Hypertension is probably the most common cardiovascular disease that we have," shared Dr. Hudson.

"I wrote another book with Dr. James Reed called `Hypertension: An African American's Guide to Diagnosis and Treatment' that is coming out in June this year on hypertension which is the number one reason why we have cardiovascular disease.

"It is the second book written over the last 20 years dealing with high blood pressure for African Americans. Another book that we did with Dr. Eric Goodsby is a book on AIDS which is coming out in August.

"A recent book we did is on sickle cell, the only book written on sickle cell disease in the last ten years which is out right now. Another book out right now is `Eight Weeks to Better Health: An African American Woman's Guide to Weight Loss', which is doing extremely well. It is all about African Amercan women and obesity."

The youngest person Dr. Hudson has treated for heart disease was 32 years old, who was a smoker, had high blood pressure and a family history of coronary disease. The oldest patient he operated was 91.

"Heart disease is more serious among black women than black men," reavealed Dr. Hudson.

"The person more likely to die from it between white women, white men, black women and black men is the black woman. In 2003 we are going to be releasing the first book on coronary disease among African American women."

The surgeon said women don't do as well when suffering from heart disease as men do. Other factors, he said, include:

Not being properly disagnosed;

Lack of appropriate treatment;

Not seeing doctors;

African American women are 40 percent more likely to be obese compared to white women; and

Not taking care of one's health.

Dr. Hudson referred to the 1997 comedy-drama `Soul Food' starring Vivica Fox, Nia Long and Vanessa Williams to illustrate the last point. "Big Mama was a big lady who lost her leg and then died, but the irony of it is that in the show Big Mama dies and it was kind of like a given," said Dr. Hudson.

"One of the reasons she died was for the same reason the show was produced...because of the food on the table. They paraded the food as if it is our culture, which in fact it is, but it is also the same thing that is killing us. She was all about taking care of her family and we have learned that taking care of our family means feeding them well and even above and beyond taking care of ourselves."

Without reservation, Dr. Hudson says improper diet is a "primary reason why we die sooner...no doubt about it".

He says in underdeveloped countries, heart disease among blacks is not as prevalent.

"Coronary disease is an American disease, a western civiliation disease, and despite the fact there has been major improvements in diagnosis and treatment, we still lead the pack in dying," the surgeon revealed.

"Stress can cause underlying anxiety and pent up frustration and because we are stressed we tend to smoke excessively and drink excessively. And because we are so stressed we don't want to exercise - `why stress myself more when I'm already stressed out from work'. So when you look at it from that point of view, how we react to it is a major risk factor."

Glenn Titterton, president and chief executive officer of BF&M, will open the seminar, accompanied by Nelson Bascome, Minister for Health and Social Services. Leslie Shane, medical case manager at BF&M Life Insurance Company, commented: "Education is the key to wellness and a healthy lifestyle.

"We hope Dr. Hudson's expertise is not only a rich resource for Bermuda's black population but for anyone who is concerned about good health. We are delighted to welcome him to the Island and encourage as many people as possible to attend the testing and seminar."

In addition to the seminar, BF&M is sponsoring a book signing involving Dr. Hudson at the Bookmart on February, 23 between noon and 2 p.m. The Phoenix Store will also be dedicating a shelf to health care issues for the event.

For more information on the seminar, Ms Shane can be contacted at 295-5566.