EDITOR’S CHOICELifestyle

Heart diseases creeping up on OFWs in UAE

It has almost been three months since Auzi Mae Gonzalez passed away, but her family is still heaving in tears for her untimely death.

Gonzalez, 31, was an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) who died of heart attack in Dubai in June 2019.

“Masakit pala makitang ate mo na mismo ang nasa headline news and its not just a news, its deceased news,” her bother Redd told The Filipino Times.

The remains of Gonzalez, who started working in Dubai some four years ago, was repatriated back to the Philippines in July 7, almost a month after her death.

Philippine officials in the UAE, together with her friends and employer, helped to fly her remains home. She was laid to rest on July 14, according to her brother.

Heart disease is a silent killer that has been creeping in the midst of our overseas Filipinos. According to an earlier report of TFT in July, it’s one of the top killers of OFWs in Dubai and neighboring Northern emirates in 2018.

Some 172 Filipinos died in Dubai and the Northern Emirates last year, according to the Philippine Consulate’s Assistance to Nationals (ATN) section. Of this number, 81 or 47 percent were due to heart attack and related conditions.

The youngest OFW to die of heart failure was a 26-year-old who succumbed to cardiac respiratory arrest.

Meanwhile, in a study conducted by the National Research Council of the Philippines (NRCP) of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), which was published last August 2019, it said heart diseases are most common among male land-based OFWs.

Triggers and causes

The study of NRCP cited overwork and stress as the most common factors that contribute to the growing number of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) among OFWs.

According to Dr. Natalie Reynes, internal medicine practitioner at Klinika Maharlika, most deaths from CVD are caused by heart attacks and strokes. “Triggering this disease are elevated blood pressure, high cholesterol and glucose, overweight and obesity,” she said.

Dr. David George R. Cheu, general practitioner at NMC Mabuhay Clinic, said is chest pain or discomfort which feels like “having an elephant resting his foot on it” is the most common symptom.

“It is the number one cause of death because of numerous risk factors like increased cholesterol, obesity, smoking and physical inactivity among others,” said Cheu.

More reason to acquire OWWA membership

OFWs are urged to be members of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) and the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).

Going back to the case of Gonzalez, her brother told TFT that her sister was not a member of OWWA, which means her family cannot claim any benefits from the agency, technically. They were told, however, that they may still claim burial benefits.

“Hindi po member si ate ng OWWA, so wala po kaming benefits na nakuha. Until now po nilalakad pa po namen yung burial benefits na ibibigay ng OWWA kasi according to them [pwede] kahit hindi member si ate,” he said.

Tip of the iceberg

The study of NRCP covered a total of 689 land-based OFWs who claimed benefits from the OWWA and PhilHealth.

One of the most common health problems by the claimants is CVD, along with reproductive and immune system.

This, however, may just be “the tip of the iceberg,” according to Veronica E. Ramirez, a member of the NRCP who gathered data and conducted interviews with OFWs and their families both in the country and abroad.

The study showed that household domestic workers are the top claimants of medical benefits, while 68 percent of medical claims were generated by OFWs in the Middle East. Only 13 percent are from Asia.

OFW checklist to keep heart attacks

By Dr. Wendy Paz

The best way to prevent and not succumb to these causes of acute deaths (heart attack) is to have a healthy lifestyle, which can be measured by the following course of action:

1. Stop smoking or using other forms of tobacco. If you do not smoke, do not start.

2. Eat a wide variety of foods in the right proportions to achieve and maintain healthy body weight.

3. Get plenty of exercise and use every opportunity to be active.

4. Get plenty of good quality sleep by sleeping at least 85% of the total time in bed, falling asleep in 30 minutes, waking no more than once per night.

5. Maintain blood cholesterol at optimum levels by keeping HDL (good cholesterol) high and keeping LDL (bad cholesterol) & triglycerides within normal levels.

6. Keep blood pressure at a safe level. Understand your pressure numbers if under normal, elevated, stage 1, stage 2, hypertensive crisis by visiting your doctor.

7. Maintain a healthy body weight in relation to your height. Compute for your BMI (Body Mass Index).

8. Avoid stress where possible by identifying stressors and learning to develop coping skills over them.

9. Learn how to manage stress by reducing the demands on yourself, ensuring that you get enough fun out of life, practice positive thinking, manage your time wisely, learn to relax your mind, body & spirit consciously, and seek support from others.

(MN)

Staff Report

The Filipino Times is the chronicler of stories for, of and by Filipinos all over the world, reaching more than 236 countries in readership. Any interesting story to share? Email us at [email protected]

Related Articles

Back to top button