 Introducing
the book your patients have been waiting for.
Put the power to manage cardiovascular risk factors and prevention
strategies in your patient’s hands with Slay the
Giant: The Power of Prevention in Defeating Heart Disease,
a compelling and easy-to-read new book from CardioSmart.
Written by Dr. Elizabeth Klodas, M.D., F.A.C.C., Slay
the Giant offers common-sense strategies for managing
risk factors through healthy lifestyle choices to maximize
health outcomes.
SLAY THE GIANT - THE STORY BEHIND THE TITLE
From Elizabeth Klodas, MD, FACC
A long time ago, before I went to medical school, my father,
who is also a physician, recounted a tale he had heard at
a medical conference. The story summarized the status of medicine
at the time. Even then, the tale struck me as having incredibly
profound implications and, 20 years later, it continues to
affect the way I view medicine and how I care for my patients.
Here is that story.
A couple of doctors were passing by a river when they noticed
an injured man floating by. He was gasping for air and crying
out in pain. The doctors rushed into the river and pulled
the man out. They tended to his wounds and eased his discomfort.
Just as they were about to go on their way, two more injured
people came floating down the river. And slightly upstream,
five more bodies were visible. The doctors started pulling
these individuals out, but knew they needed assistance. So
they called for other doctors to come and help with the wounded.
The stream of injured grew larger and larger. And more and
more doctors came to help. They built hospitals along the
river’s banks, and invented new methods to treat the
patients more quickly. Whole cities and industries sprung
up in an effort to treat all the ill individuals. Thousands
upon thousands of doctors flocked to the riverbank to help.
The doctors congratulated each other on every saved life.
Their patients were grateful, and the doctors really felt
like they were making a difference. Their inventions were
much celebrated in the press, and their heroism was an inspiration
to one and all.
But no matter how efficient and sophisticated the doctors
became, no matter how many fancy machines or inventions they
had, they could never quite keep up with the flow of patients.
More and more kept floating down the river. The system was
overwhelmed, the doctors were exhausted and people were still
dying.
Surprisingly, the doctors never walked upstream. If they
had done this, they would have seen an angry giant clubbing
people nearly to death and throwing them into the river. As
it turns out, the real, lasting solution to the situation
was not the complex one of investing time and resources into
treating the injured, but rather a simple one: slay the giant.
Amazingly, this story, which highlights the pitfalls of treating
disease instead of preventing it, is just as applicable to
medicine today as it was in the previous millennium. We are
so preoccupied with finding new ways to cure the sick that
we expend relatively little effort on keeping people healthy.
We have thousands of ways to treat patients who suffer from
heart disease. We have fancy tests and miraculous procedures,
specialized surgery and lasers and pacemakers. And yet we
have accomplished very little in terms of reducing the number
of people who develop heart disease — in fact, these
numbers are growing. Heart disease is already the
number one killer and disabler in the United States. And if
you think it’s an economic and social burden now, just
wait until the baby boomers start hitting cardiologists’
offices.
When it comes to heart disease, it’s time for all of
us to walk upstream. To help you and your patients do just
that, I wrote Slay the Giant, published in conjunction with
the American College of Cardiology.
60-Day Risk-Free Return Policy
ACC guarantees its educational products. If you are
unsatisfied with your product within 60 days of purchase,
please contact our Resource Center at 800-253-4636, x5603
to arrange for a refund. Please note that if you have already
claimed CME, CE, and/or MOC credit for the product, you will
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