A moving post was held today by State Minister Akis Skertsos to raise awareness of the “prevent” program through which free preventive cardiovascular examinations are provided.

He says, among other things, that he received the message from HIDA for his own precautionary exams and as he typically notes “my thought went immediately to you dad …”

The post:

“My father had the first heart attack at the age of 42. I was just 5 and my brother 8. Our mother at 35. I still remember the words of the doctor who saved him “Basil you fell from the White Tower, you stood up, you found a thousand.” So serious was the heart attack and he was so lucky.
He survived, thanks to the careful life he did and my mother’s care, from yet another heavy heart attack that came 16 years later, to lose him unfortunately in 2009, from the fateful breaking of his heart. I am still hurting his absence and I am deeply sorry that my son, who looks so much like his name, has not met him. Many would be shared by both of them.
I just received this message from HIDA for my own preventive cardiovascular exams, and my thought immediately went to you dad …
Many things could have been different for all of us – but also for my own family – if our country had invested prevention earlier. We do it now. Even with a long delay.
Utilize this great gift. Do the preventive exams that the state offers for free. A state that must take care of and protect. We need this. That’s why we work. “