Brazilian Heart Association Meeting - San Paulo, Brazil
June 24-26th, 1999

Recently I had a chance to participate in an all day conference on Chest Pain Centers and the EHAC Awareness Program in San Paulo, Brazil at the meeting of the Brazilian Heart Association and the InterAmerican Heart Foundations. What was so different about this meeting is that all of the participants except for myself and Pat Hayes were from Brazil. They came from Rio de Janeiro, Curitiba and Puerto Agra, etc....... Already there are four Chest Pain Centers in Brazil. Dr. Rafael Luna, President of the Brazilian Heart Society has pledged to make available a Chest Pain Center as well as an EHAC Program in all 160 heart centers (Institutions with cardiac surgery and cardiac cath).

The commitment in Brazil is extremely overwhelming. There's a passionate effort to spread prevention through earliness in symptom detection. Mario Maranhao, the President Elect of the World Heart Federation has also made a pledge to put together an EHAC Committee to spread this knowledge throughout the world. The next meeting of the World Heart Federation will take place in Barcelona, Spain in August at the annual meeting of the European Heart Association.

Thus, you can see the movement of Chest Pain Centers is not limited to the United States. This is the reason why we decided on the name "The Society of Chest Pain Centers and Providers" rather than the American Society of Chest Pain Centers and Providers. Heart Attack truly is an international problem and thus requires an international solution. Our efforts will be to solidify the progress of Chest Pain Centers within the United States but we will be cognizant of the global need as well. Any thoughts that members of the Steering Committee may have in regard to the international scope would be very much appreciated.

Raymond D. Bahr, MD
President Emeritus