TAMPA, Fla. — Helping people get healthy is Dr. Tywaun Tillman’s number one goal.
“In general, when it comes to heart health, one of the most important things is your daily lifestyle,” said Dr. Tillman, a cardiologist for Orlando Health.
He sat down with ABC Action News to talk about the concerning rise in cardiovascular disease.
WATCH full report by Larissa Scott
“Unfortunately, the numbers are getting worse… Overall, looking at the prevalence of disease in our population, it has not improved. It’s actually worsened,” said Tillman.
Many people don’t know their cardiac risk factors: diabetes, obesity, high cholesterol and high blood pressure.
“There is a large percentage of the population that has underlying high blood pressure that’s undiagnosed,” said Tillman.
Eric Kinda was in that category, living with dangerously high blood pressure that could’ve killed him.
He didn’t find out about it until he visited the Orlando Health clinic in Carrollwood last August.
“I came in to shadow the doctors here because I do want to become a doctor in the future,” said Kinda.
That’s when he was practicing how to check blood pressure.
“When I looked at the gauge, I saw it ticking at 200,” said Kinda.
“When you talk about blood pressure, people always ask me, 'What levels should I be worried about?' It’s not 160s. That’s pretty routine for us. 200, 210, that starts to get scary, especially in young people. Those are the ones that will have strokes due to bleeds,” said Tillman.
Kinda, just 26 years old at the time, was in shock.
“I’ve never seen or heard of anyone being that high and not have like a stroke or anything like that,” said Kinda.
“You don’t have to have plaque in your arteries or in your brain or in your neck or anything, just blood pressure 220/120 causes bleeds, stroke, disabled for life,” said Tillman.
Had Kinda continued on, he knows he could’ve died from a stroke.
“Fortunately, he happened to be here, and he happened to check his blood pressure, and he was lucky. He was lucky. Because I’ve seen young people with strokes from uncontrolled hypertension, and the outcome is never good,” said Tillman.
As someone who’s played sports most of his life, Kinda thought he was healthy and didn’t really notice symptoms at the time.
“Looking back, I can tell I was out of shape. Because I was so focused on studying for my master’s. So I was up late, drinking energy drinks, barely sleeping, eating snacks,” he said.
He’s feeling a lot better now after making some lifestyle changes and getting on medication.
Kinda will be sharing his story at Saturday’s community health fair put on by the Tampa Bay Black Chamber of Commerce.
“I think it’s really important that I send a message to other people to let them know that they should check their blood pressure,” said Kinda.
Healthcare providers will be there too.
There will be screenings for high blood pressure, heart disease prevention, kidney disease prevention, mental health and grief counseling, and HIV and STD testing.
The health fair is Saturday, June 21, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Middleton High School in Tampa.
Tillman knows many people are afraid to go to the doctor.
“One of the reasons that they’re afraid is because of the unknown. And that’s one of the reasons why we wanted to be involved in this community, and this health fair is because when people are educated about their health, they become more familiar, more comfortable with it. So education sort of gives people a route into at least knowing a little bit more, so when they do go to their physician’s office, they may not be so nervous about it,” he said.
He’s encouraging people to go to the health fair to start taking control of their health.
“To get people in, to get people educated, because an educated community is a healthier community,” said Tillman.
He believes prevention is key.
“With the obesity epidemic that we have in children and throughout our country as a whole, getting to people early is the most important thing that you can do for cardiovascular health and kind of reduce the mortality rate that’s associated with cardiovascular disease,” said Tillman.
