For the last decade, Montefiore Health System has taken steps to lower the rate of heart disease in the Bronx. That mantra has taken place literally and figuratively.

It was at the hospital’s Moses Campus on East Gun Hill Road in Norwood on Feb. 2 where a queue of Montefiore employees took a stroll around the hospital’s perimeter where one loop equates to a quarter mile. Walking has its merits, and has a greater chance of lowering the risk of heart disease.

The queue was led by Dr. Steven Safyer, president and CEO of Montefiore Health System, who kicked off February Heart Month along with Dr. Peter Semczuk, executive director of the Moses Campus, Dr. Luigi Di Biase, M.D., Ph.D. of Albert Einstein College of Medicine’s Division of Cardiology, and Donald Stark, a clinical administrator for Montefiore’s cardiology department. A series of events, including the walk, aimed to underscore the importance of staying active as a way to ward off heart disease. For Dr. Safyer, the events also emphasized the need to stay healthy year round.

“We invite people from all over the Bronx to kick off the month emphasizing heart health…so that you don’t get sick and you don’t need our help,” Dr. Safyer. “Because unfortunately too many people in this borough have diabetes, have heart disease, they still smoke, they’re not eating properly but certainly not exercising.”

Throughout February, Montefiore has hosted heart events that included a lecture on heart disease and a walk with a doctor event.

Heart disease stands as the leading cause of death throughout the country, with some 610,000 people dying from some form of heart disease yearly, according to a 2009 study by the Centers for Disease Control. In the Norwood, Bedford Park and Kingsbridge sections of the Bronx, heart disease was ranked the leading cause of death in the neighborhoods with 1,229 people dying from the disease between 2009 and 2013, according to the New York City Health Department.

Editor’s Note: A full list of events can be found on http://www.montefiore.org/documents/heartmonth/heartmonthcalendar2017.pdf

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.