Program History

HeadsUp on Heart Disease was first embraced by St. Mary Medical Center in Langhorne, Bucks County, Pennsylvania in 2003. Ron Melk, a marketing and communications consultant to St. Mary, devised the campaign after he suffered a heart attack despite having normal cholesterol and blood pressure readings and generally being in excellent health.

During the planning of the 2005 program, Scott Share, Vice President of Marketing for Lourdes Health System, himself required a cardiac procedure to open two clogged arteries. He now claims firsthand knowledge of the value of the program. He acted immediately on the mild symptoms he was feeling.

St. Mary will repeat the program for the third time in 2005. St. Mary was joined by southern New Jersey’s Lourdes Health System in 2004, and, for the first time in 2005, Saint Joseph’s Hospital, part of the Saint Joseph’s Health System in Atlanta, Georgia will participate in the campaign.

All three healthcare providers are members of Catholic Health East (CHE), one of the largest Catholic healthcare systems in the nation.