Each year, more than 11,500 people suffer a heart attack after shoveling snow. In plunging temperatures blood vessels constrict to keep the body’s temperature up, adding more stress to the heart. This puts those shoveling, men in particular, at tremendous risk for a heart attack. As significant snow storms approached in early 2021,  the R&J healthcare team reached out to the media and offered RWJBarnabas Health’s cardiologists and Emergency Room doctors as expert resources to provide health and safety tips for New Jersey residents to follow when shoveling heavy, wet snow (often called heart attack snow).

R&J’s healthcare team was able to successfully secure and coordinate two separate interviews for two separate RWJBarnabas Health doctors – Sabino M. Torre, M.D., Interventional Cardiologist from Saint Barnabas Medical Center, an RWJBarnabas Health facility and Dr. Bill Dalby, chairman of the emergency department at Community Medical Center – reaching two different communities served by the RWJBarnabas Health system. Dr. Torre from Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston spoke with NJ statewide radio station 101.5 for an on-air interview on how to avoid injury when shoveling.

Additionally, Dr. Dalby from Community Medical Center in Toms River was interviewed by the Asbury Park Press / APP.com for a piece on why the cold weather exacerbates stress to the heart, signs and symptoms of a heart attack and the basic steps people can take to reduce the stress on their heart when shoveling. With a coverage zone of Monmouth and Ocean County, the piece targeted specifically Community Medical Center’s patient population.

The pitch successfully allowed the R&J team to leverage seasonal health opportunities, further position RWJBarnabas Health’s experts in the healthcare field and to reach the hospitals’ local audiences through both online media and broadcast radio media.

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