DG urges men to get check-ups after micro-heart attack

| 18/11/2022 | 39 Comments
Deputy Governor Franz Manderson

(CNS): Deputy Governor Franz Manderson has delivered a message from his hospital bed revealing that he was taken to hospital yesterday morning with chest pains and underwent an emergency procedure following what his doctors described as a micro-heart attack. The head of the civil service said he was doing much better and used the opportunity in his message to urge other men not to ignore the warning signs and make sure they get checked out.

“I am recovering well,” he said as he thanked the staff at the HSA and the Doctors Hospital and the wider public for all the messages and support he has received.

Manderson said he would be following doctors’ orders over the coming weeks to ensure his full recovery, but he encouraged all men to take their health seriously.

“It is okay to ask for help when you need it and doing so may have saved my life,” he said. “As men, we are often focused on the care and attention of our loved ones and our professional obligations but we are just as vulnerable to illness,” he said, noting that this was Men’s Health Awareness Month.

In his short message (see below), he encouraged people to have regular wellness checks, exercise and seek timely medical attention.


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Category: Health, Medical Health

Comments (39)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    get well DG you are important to us. even from your sick bed you think of others and now have the cns posters talking about health check ups. that’s why we love you.

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  2. Anonymous says:

    Death does not scare me, medical bills here in Cayman yes, even with insurance. They alone can cause a heart attack. Besides, they always find something to charge for. A patient treated is a customer lost. Good advise, but not here.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Lipitor…statins…how do we expect our well-meaning doctors’s pharma sales reps to comp them to Vegas without qualifying Rx volume? We should trust them like our broker.

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      • Anonymous says:

        ❤️Half people who had a heart attack have normal lipids.
        ❤️People with elevated lipids can live to 100 and have no CVD and die from something else.
        💊Lipids lowering medications have a very long list of serious side effects
        👵👴🧓🏾Elderly with low total cholesterol will die sooner than those with normal or elevated.
        🧫Cholesterol is an essential component of cell membranes, which are the structures that border every cell in the human body.
        🌞Sunlight deficiency could increase blood cholesterol https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8935479/
        🧫Without cholesterol, T-cells (a type of white blood cell), for example, would not maintain their cell membranes, leading to rupturing of the cells.
        🔬🧪Elevated Lp(a) doesn’t respond to medication or diet. Theoretically, it is an indicator of the highest risk for CVD. Practically, nobody really knows.
        🩸The PLAC® test offers a reliable, inexpensive, and non-invasive means of determining which individuals are at high risk of suffering from potentially deadly cardiovascular events such as heart attack and stroke. Lp-PLA2 (PLAC)Activity test cost is Under $100. You can test yourself without doctor’s script.

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  3. Anonymous says:

    “DG urges men to get check-ups after micro-heart attack…”

    Umm….start with most of the elected men and women in the PACT government, first up, the Premier. Maybe they can collectively make a goal in 2023 to become less morbidly obese.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Saunders, Panton, Jay, Juliana, Bernie and Mac are all PACT members that must lose weight.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Are you implying, by omission, that Jon Jon, Sabrina, Heather, plus a few others are NOT overweight?

  4. Anonymous says:

    “Micro heart attack” is not a recognized medical term, even colloquially.

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    • Anonymous says:

      It’s Civil Service speak for “take as long as you want off with full pay and benefits”

      Remarkably commonplace.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Especially when accompanied by a “emergency procedure “.

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    • Anonymous says:

      18 @ 11:39am – I wondered as much. Having had 2 confirmed “heart attacks” (myocardial infarction), a couple more cardiovascular blockages plus the history with two sets of cardiac specialists here and abroad, I have never heard that term!

      Franz or someone close was probably told “myocardial infarction” and it went from there.

      Just saying.

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  5. Anonymous says:

    💁‍♀️Women often have coronary microvascular disease. 🙋‍♂️Men mostly have coronary artery disease.

    ANGIOGRAPHY DOESN’T TELL YOU THE WHOLE STORY, Approximately 112 million people globally are affected by angina and undergo coronary angiography
    Unfortunately, angiography is limited to assessing the epicardial arteries and cannot assess the microcirculation, which is largely responsible for the regulation and distribution of blood flow to the myocardium.
    The microcirculation carries far more myocardial blood volume compared to the epicardial arteries.
    https://www.cardiovascular.abbott/us/en/hcp/disease-management/coronary-microvascular-dysfunction/overview.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMInrG2q4S4-wIV08eGCh2EjARJEAAYASAAEgJKnvD_BwE

    Call or email Health City and ask them if they have equipment and procedures to diagnose CMD. Few years ago when I inquired, they said they have no equipment to diagnose CMD. (The most advanced cardiology clinic they claim). If they do have an equipment and procedures, ask them how many women (and men) did they diagnose with CMD. The above link should open your eyes on CVD diagnostics.

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  6. Anonymous says:

    I am glad to hear the DG is on the mend and that he is encouraging men to prioritize their health.

    BUT the access and treatment he received is nowhere near what the average person accesses or receives. Waiting weeks or moths for appointments, being unable to get time away from work to attend them or managing to schedule time only for the appointment to be cancelled and have to wait more.

    Referrals are pointless – you can barely every get one. Wellness checks, please don’t even ask.

    If he had been treated the same way the health services treats average people he may not have been able to o quickly address us on his progress.

    Make the system better for people who are not “high priority” within the civil service.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Sure, but what about the other 95,000 residents that aren’t working for CIG?

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    • Anonymous says:

      Have PLAC test done, or Cardio IQ.. no waiting and no doctor’s script needed (in US). It is affordable and one can easily interpret the results.
      P.S. Pay online and go to one of the labs of your choice to get tested. They alway offer discounts.

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    • Anonymous says:

      And CS retirees.

  7. Anonymous says:

    eating is just as important…i civil servant..avoid red meat…pork…oxtail..turtle meat etc…instead i go completely vegan 4 days a week…eat chicken…turkey…mostly fish! it working so far…

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    • Anonymous says:

      Quite the opposite, Einstein! and it is what you DIGEST….fiber is not digested by the way

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      • Anonymous says:

        There are both soluble and insoluble fibre types – different pipe cleaners, each vital in their own way. Insoluble isn’t metabolised by us, but it is fuel for the 40 trillion hitchhiking friends: the healthy gut biome bacteria cells, which release satiation/hunger instructions to the brain with this material. Insoluble does not absorb water, adds bulk, and helps move things along, cleaning the villi surface as it goes, keeping everything healthy, and warding off colon cancer. Whereas soluble absorbs water, becoming a gel, rapidly absorbed into the blood, and cleans vasculature of dangerous small particle LDL before being filtered in liver and expelled. Fibre is only found in plants. Most of us need more fibre, not protein.

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    • Anonymous says:

      We quit meat cold tofurky just to get our grocery bill back under $200 a visit. Don’t need any more reason than that, but the list of many other reasons seals it for us.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Now you going a bit too far adding oxtail to your banned list of foods. Oxtail when cooked right is nourishing, full of glucosamine for healthy joints and protein for muscles. If you eat it every damned day of course like everything else will become harmful. Try leave my local food and stick to your can vegan food cause I know you not eating no fresh lettuce at $11.00 a head!!

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  8. Anonymous says:

    Cardiovascular disease is the number one killer of both men AND WOMEN (DG seems to forget about that half). The single biggest change for the better that we can all make, if we want, is to chose to increase proportion of dietary soluble fibre by cutting back or eliminating saturated fats (animal meat and dairy) and increasing the fruits, vegetables on our plates. Neglecting to floss and habitualised alcohol intake propel dangerously high levels of chronic inflammation small ldl particles which are atherosclerosis fuel, along with saturated fats. Soluble fibre reverses this deposition and blockage process by carrying small ldl away for elimination, gradually reducing arterial plaque buildup and restoring blood flow, brain (!), and endothelial function – with measurable improvement achieved in within weeks. There are drugs that do this also, but with side effects. Better to put the correct fuel in the tank. Alas, exercise and doctor consults will never magically add this missing soluble fibre, you have to understand why, and then choose to consume it on your own.

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    • Anonymous says:

      💔Women have smaller arteries than men, so coronary artery disease develops differently, and more diffusely.
      💔Women more frequently develop coronary microvascular(not to be confused with coronary artery disease (CAD) men have)disease and it occurs particularly in younger women.
      💔Coronary microvascular disease (CMD) is present in 30% of patients with angina and is associated with increased morbidity and mortality.
      💔Microvascular disease might show up during stress tests or echocardiograms, but it might be the type that isn’t triggered by exertion.
      💔Diagnosing and treating CMD differs from diagnosing and treating CAD. Few years ago Health City hospital didn’t have equipment to diagnose CMD.
      💔Women found to be at higher risk for heart failure and heart attack death than men
      💔Most of our ideas about heart disease in women used to come from studying it in 🙋‍♂️men. But there are many reasons to think that it’s different in women. A woman’s symptoms are often different from a man’s, and she’s much more likely than a man to die within a year of having a heart attack. Women also don’t seem to fare as well as men do after taking clot-busting drugs or undergoing certain heart-related medical procedures.
      💔Heart disease is the leading cause of death for women in the United States, killing 314,186 women in 2020—or about 1 in every 5 female deaths.

      https://www.nghs.com/2021/02/26/why-women-are-more-likely-to-die-from-a-heart-attack
      https://newsroom.heart.org/news/women-found-to-be-at-higher-risk-for-heart-failure-and-heart-attack-death-than-men
      https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/gender-matters-heart-disease-risk-in-women

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    • Myra Wood says:

      Wishing you a full and speedy recovery Franz and praying for you and your family!!

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    • Anonymous says:

      Blah, blah, blah, who doesn’t know all this by now going into 2023. Up the individual.

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      • Anonymous says:

        You’d be surprised: take Franz here, who has just survived a serious heart attack and life-saving emergency intervention, and still doesn’t quite understand the mitigating role that diet choices play in keeping folks like him out of the ER. Especially important to survivors to avoid recurrent heart attack events. It’s concerning that his doctor didn’t adequately relay this advice!

  9. MBG says:

    While commendable sort of….is he setting up a free men’s health check up clinic? Because no one else is paying for it.

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    • Anonymous says:

      What was the lecturer’s excuse with free limitless HSA healthcare at his disposal?!? Maybe that should also be a takeaway: Use your benefits.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Coming here to say the same thing. A health check up costs upwards of $600ky and my medical insurance only covers $150 usd. I don’t have a check up because I can’t afford it and suspect many others on the island are in the same place.
      Father had a triple heart bypass and prostate cancer so I know I am at high risk…but struggling to even eat healthy these days.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Thank you. Its easy for people, especially Civil Service and Government to give advice on check ups. But to those of us paying $300 a month or more out of pocked for health insurance which only covers ONE doctor consultation OR dental visit (under ‘wellness’) and up to 80% of $400 for diagnostic (xrays, blood tests etc), its hard to find funds for proactive health care when you’ve spent $3000-4000 a year towards premiums and your benefits are less than $600.

        Takeaway from insurance providers: insurance is for worst case scenarios NOT proactive health screening.

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      • Anonymous says:

        If you put $2 or loose coins a day in a lock metal pot then you can afford health check up!

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        • watcher says:

          For most of us, there is no such thing as “loose coins”, and sure as hell no such thing as “spare change”.

          Until the point where CINICO is nationalised (and hopefully produces more benefit at less cost) most of us will only go to hospital when our condition is serious.

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          • Anonymous says:

            CINICO is already nationalized. I think you meant for CINICO to be expanded to be an all inclusive health provider thereby achieving the economies of scale needed to operate more efficiently cost wise.

      • Anonymous says:

        But if we reason that the co-pay on an exec check-up is prohibitively expensive, wait til that doctor prescribes the cocktail of pills that attempt to chemically rebalance a lifetime of poor dietary inputs, drinking, and smoking.

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