The Asian Hospital and Medical Center harnesses the power of social media and taps millennials and Gen Z Filipinos to encourage their parents and grandparents to have their heart health checked. AHMC recently launched a campaign called YourHeartthrobs@AsianHospital to address misinformation on the internet about heart conditions and treatments.
“People nowadays rely heavily on social media to know more about certain diseases and the tests to get. However, the disadvantage is not all information on social media is correct so we, as experts in this field, want to help in bridging gaps and prevent misinformation,” explains Ms. Hennesy Lou Miranda, Director for Marketing and Patient Experience at Asian Hospital.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority indicated that in 2023, heart disease is the leading cause of death among Filipinos with ischemic heart disease topping the cause of death. This is followed by cancer and cerebrovascular diseases.
Asian Hospital will tap “Heartthrobs” or heart experts to seed heart health information on various social media platforms. They will also be tapped to give Wellness Talks at community and corporate events; convention speaking engagements as well as media engagements. The Corporate Affairs Team will provide the heartthrobs with the necessary media training. Three heartthrobs have already been recruited for this task: Dr. Lauren Kay Evangelista, Dr. Jaime Alfonso Manalo Aherrera, and Dr. Michael Joseph Reyes.
Dr. Evangelista’s advocacy is to improve heart failure carer and outcomes in the Philippines through multi-professional and collaborative care. An active consultant of Asian Hospital, she is one of the five heart failure specialists of the Philippine Core Member of the Council of Heart Failure in the Philippine Heart Association.
Dr. Aherrera is an interventional cardiologist at Asian Hospital. He was recognized as the Most Outstanding Fellow in Training by the Philippine Hospital Association and was awarded as Outstanding Young Scientist by the National Academy of Science and Technology Philippines.
Dr. Reyes got his interventional cardiology fellowship at the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital and is an active consultant of Asian Hospital. He is presently the Training Officer of the Asian Cardiovascular Institute Fellowship Program.
“We are very optimistic that with the help of our three heartthrobs and the younger generation, parents and grandparents will realize the need to have their hearts checked on a regular basis,” Miranda said.