Crabtree Earns CMC “Love Your Heart” Drawing Contest

Raylee Crabtree, a fifth grader at Crab Orchard Elementary School, won Cumberland Medical Center’s annual “Love Your Heart” drawing contest – a partnership with Cumberland County Schools’ Coordinated School Health in support of making our community more heart healthy.

Crabtree earned a bicycle as the winning prize. Her entry illustrated “healthy” verses “junk food” charts. Entries included an educational opportunity to highlight heart healthy lifestyle choices.

The drawing contest was held during February in support of the American Heart Association’s annual Heart Month. Crabtree’s drawing was carefully selected out of more than 300 entries by the CMC Cardiac Rehabilitation team.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, someone in the United States has a heart attack every 40 seconds. Each year, it’s estimated that some 200,000 people will experience their first heart attack.

Symptoms of a Heart Attack

Although each individual may have slightly different symptoms of a heart attack, these are the most common:

• Severe pressure, fullness, squeezing, pain, or discomfort in the center of the chest that lasts for more than a few minutes
• Pain or discomfort that spreads to the shoulders, neck, arms, or jaw
• Chest pain that gets worse
• Chest pain that doesn’t get better with rest or by taking nitroglycerin
• Chest pain that happens along with any of these symptoms:
  • Sweating
  • Cool, clammy skin or paleness
  • Shortness of breath
  • Nausea or vomiting
  • Dizziness or fainting
  • Unexplained weakness or fatigue
  • Fast or irregular pulse
  • Chest pain is the key warning sign of a heart attack, but it may be confused with other conditions. These include heartburn, pleurisy (when thin tissue layers between the lungs and chest wall separate), and pneumonia. Always see your healthcare provider for a diagnosis.

Note: Any heart attack is a life-threatening medical emergency that needs immediate care. If you or someone you’re with appears to be having a heart attack, do not hesitate to call 911. Any delay in receiving care can lead to permanent damage to the heart muscle or death.