The Experience of Chest Pain in a Lakota Community

Aim 1: Assess and document, by survey, the knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs regarding chest pain symptoms among American Indians presenting to the Emergency Department with symptoms of chest pain from two Northern Plains’ reservations. Aim 2: Enact a simple baseline data collection effort for assessing the time between onset of symptoms and care presentation or Emergency Medical Service (EMS) use within the Indian Health Service hospital emergency departments serving the two reservations. Aim3: Use focus group methodology to generate information from members of these communities representing different CVD risk categories, key family members, and providers to enhance and render a culturally appropriate intervention to reduce the delay in seeking medical care for potential cardiac chest pain. Aim 4: Develop and deliver to the members of one reservation a culturally appropriate intervention through targeted education and a broad social marketing campaign, while using the other reservation as a comparison group. Aim 5: Assess and document, by survey, any post-intervention change in knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors about chest pain by the members on each reservation and to document the change in delay times in seeking medical attention for cardiac chest pain on these reservations Aim 6: Deliver the intervention, if shown effective, on the control reservation.