Preventing an Atrial Fibrillation Stroke Crisis Is Patient's Stroke Month Focus

DALLAS, May 31, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- From partnering in Facing AFib, featuring soap star Susan Lucci, to enlisting help from global experts, atrial fibrillation stroke awareness is the passion of StopAfib.org founder Mellanie True Hills.

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After having a close call with a stroke from atrial fibrillation (afib), Hills focused the patient advocacy organization she founded, StopAfib.org, on raising awareness of atrial fibrillation to prevent a stroke crisis.

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In celebrating a successful Stroke Awareness Month (May), StopAfib.org made the following announcement: "StopAfib.org, a patient advocacy organization for those living with the most common irregular heartbeat, atrial fibrillation, is very pleased to announce the addition of four top afib experts to our Global Medical Advisory Board," says Mellanie True Hills, StopAfib.org founder and CEO. "The board is made up of some of the world's foremost electrophysiologists, cardiologists, surgeons, neurologists, epidemiologists, and researchers, who help us to provide the latest information about atrial fibrillation treatments to afib patients and their families."

New members named to the StopAfib.org Global Medical Advisory Board are:

• Hugh G. Calkins, MD, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, MD
• Pierre Jais, MD, Universitaire de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
• Prof. Prashanthan Sanders, Royal Adelaide Hospital, Adelaide, Australia
• Albert L. Waldo, MD, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio

For a complete list of members, see the StopAfib.org Global Medical Advisory Board.

For Stroke Month, StopAfib.org participated in the following to raise awareness of atrial fibrillation and the link to stroke:

• Facing AFib, a partnership in which award-winning actress Susan Lucci and her husband Helmut Huber launched a pledge to educate about atrial fibrillation and stroke

• Team AFib, a new coalition to advocate for atrial fibrillation patients that was launched during Stroke Month

• Action for Stroke Prevention, a group of leading experts that launched the "How Can We Avoid a Stroke Crisis in the Asia Pacific Region" report calling for urgent coordinated action throughout the region to avoid an atrial fibrillation stroke crisis

• Bridging the Afib Communications Gap, a summary of Hills' speech to health-care professionals at the Fourth Annual Western Atrial Fibrillation Symposium, was published in EP Lab Digest

• A video of Hills' presentation on living with afib, presented at the Alliance for Aging Research Silver Book: Thrombosis launch

• Upcoming is a live chat on June 13 for atrial fibrillation patients and afib caregivers that will feature three Cleveland Clinic atrial fibrillation experts, Dr. Bruce Lindsay, Dr. Marc Gillinov, and Dr. David Van Wagoner, who will be joined by StopAfib.org founder Mellanie True Hills

About StopAfib.org

StopAfib.org was founded in 2007 to improve the quality of life for those living with atrial fibrillation and to save lives by raising awareness of afib and thus decreasing afib-related strokes. HON Code Certified StopAfib.org is for patients by patients, and is the most visited arrhythmia site.

For more information, visit http://www.StopAfib.org, or contact us at 940-466-9898 or http://www.stopafib.org/contact.cfm

Contact: Mellanie True Hills at 940-466-9898 or http://www.stopafib.org

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SOURCE StopAfib.org