When Sharon, a neurosurgery department employee at Baylor College of Medicine, received a Hello Heart blood pressure monitor, she initially stored it away in her closet. Little did she know the device would soon be at the center of a life-changing event. 

As someone with a history of heart disease and nine cardiac stents, Sharon was no stranger to heart health challenges. She had survived four previous heart attacks, including one where her left anterior descending artery was 98 percent blocked. 

Despite these challenges, she had never engaged much with tracking her heart health – partly due to her busy schedule, and partly due to her tendency to care for loved ones first before herself. 

One night, everything changed. 

"I woke up and I couldn't move because my head was all of a sudden in this excruciating pain," Sharon recounts. "I couldn't breathe." As a healthcare professional, she tried to assess whether she was having a stroke, but the severity of her symptoms made it difficult to think clearly. After taking nitroglycerin without relief, she remembered the Hello Heart device in her closet. 

Sharon was struggling, but knew she had to get through it and stay alive for her eight-year-old granddaughter. She managed to retrieve the device from her closet and connect it to her phone. The readings were alarming: her blood pressure started at 197/140 and continued to climb, eventually reaching even more dangerous levels of 260/210. 

She doesn't recall exactly what happened next, but she managed to contact emergency services. When paramedics arrived, they were direct about the gravity of her situation: "Ma'am, you're about to die," they told her.

At the hospital, doctors diagnosed Sharon with a thyroid storm, a condition that, combined with her heart disease, is often fatal. "My cardiologist was shocked. She said, 'I can't believe you're here,'" Sharon says. The experience transformed her relationship with blood pressure monitoring. The Hello Heart monitor now has a permanent place on her nightstand, where she can get to it quickly.

Sharon takes readings daily with her Bluetooth-enabled Hello Heart monitor and uses the mobile app for medication management and daily health coaching

Sharon's story is particularly poignant given her family history. Having lost two sisters to uncontrolled hypertension, she's become a passionate advocate for blood pressure monitoring, especially in the Black community. "It is a silent killer for African Americans and for Black women," she emphasizes. Today, she uses Hello Heart one to two times daily. She likes how it integrates with her phone and watch to provide comprehensive monitoring and risk flags. 

For Sharon, staying healthy is about more than just her own survival – it's about being there for her beloved granddaughter. "You have to take care of your heart so that you can see me grow up," her granddaughter often reminds her. 

This motivation, combined with the accessibility and reliability of Hello Heart, keeps Sharon vigilant about her heart health. As she puts it, "You have to want to live and otherwise it won't work. So I want to live. I'm old, but I want to live to get older."
‍

❤️ Ready to take control of your heart health? Learn more and determine your eligibility for Hello Heart here.

❤️ Interested in offering Hello Heart to your employees or health plan members? Reach out to info@helloheart.com. 

Hello Heart is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, and treatment. You should always consult with your doctor about your individual care.

1. Gazit T, Gutman M, Beatty AL. Assessment of Hypertension Control Among Adults Participating in a Mobile Technology Blood Pressure Self-management Program. JAMA Netw Open. 2021;4(10):e2127008, https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.27008. Accessed October 19, 2022. (Some study authors are employed by Hello Heart. Because of the observational nature of the study, causal conclusions cannot be made. See additional important study limitations in the publication. This study showed that 108 participants with baseline blood pressure over 140/90 who had been enrolled in the program for 3 years and had application activity during weeks 148-163 were able to reduce their blood pressure by 21 mmHg using the Hello Heart program.) (2) Livongo Health, Inc. Form S-1 Registration Statement. https:/www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1639225/000119312519185159/d731249ds1.htm. Published June 28, 2019. Accessed October 19, 2022. (In a pilot study that lasted six weeks, individuals starting with a blood pressure of greater than 140/90 mmHg, on average, had a 10 mmHG reduction.) NOTE: This comparison is not based on a head-to-head study, and the difference in results may be due in part to different study protocols.
2. Validation Institute. 2021 Validation Report (Valid Through October 2022). https://validationinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Hello_Heart-Savings-2021- Final.pdf. Published October 2021. Accessed October 19, 2022. (This analysis was commissioned by Hello Heart, which provided a summary report of self-fundedemployer client medical claims data for 203 Hello Heart users and 200 non-users from 2017-2020. Findings have not been subjected to peer review.)