Monday, September 15, 2014
By Andy Rieger Transcript Executive Editor
Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin thanked physicians and other heart-health workers for their part in trying to improve the state's overall health.
Fallin, speaking Friday at a heart health conference sponsored by Norman Regional Health System, said one in four Oklahoma deaths are from cardiovascular diseases.
"It's a killer in our state," Fallin told the guests at Embassy Suites Hotel and Conference Center.
She commended the attendees for taking time to better their education on heart health in order to share best practices with patients. Proper nutrition, smoking cessation and lifestyle changes will make a difference, she said.
"Oklahomans don't always know how to take care of themselves," she said.
Fallin's father died of heart disease in his 50s and her mother later died in her 70s with heart problems.
"They smoked. We ate fried food every night. They didn't take care of themselves," she said.
Fallin joked that some critics say politicians don't have hearts. She gets a heart check-up whenever she's eligible.
"I can prove I have a heart. I have seen it," she said.
She said she has pushed health issues in her administration. Smoking rates have declined slightly from 26 percent of the adult population to 23 percent.
"We're moving the needle in the right direction but we still have a long way to go," she said. "You can't force people to do things. It takes a lot of personal responsibility."
Oklahoma's overall health ranking in one outcomes measurement has gone from 49th in the nation to 44th.