Heart Matter(s) - Our heart should be close to our heart

How often do you appreciate your heartbeat? After exercise when its beating fast? Or right now because we talk about it? I say, we dont appreciate it often enough Heart disease and underlying causes like obesity are still the number one death cause worldwide and the numbers are on the rise. Despite this looming prospect, only a few people are aware of their own risk factors, especially because they are tightly embedded in our culture for example overweight, alcohol, smoking, and stress. Especially young people often ignore that these risk factors will possibly harm them in the future. Also, they often do not understand why this is the case. But how to raise awareness in a population of 25 to 40-year-old people? Everyone is touched on some level by personal stories. Over the ages, stories and narratives have been used to deliver knowledge, but they also transport emotions - and this is something missing in scientific communication. This science communication project aims to raise awareness of heart disease in a large population, but particularly in young people by harnessing the power of true, personal stories. Scientists and people suffering from heart diseases will tell these stories on stage to enable the audience to interact with scientists on a very personal level. Furthermore, these stories will be distributed online via podcasting platforms to reach an even bigger audience. Based on the topics raised in the personal stories, research-based information dealing with preemptive measures, risk management and treatment will be shared on social media. This presence on social media will further give the audience themselves the opportunity to share their stories in hosted blogposts which vice versa influence the choice of the next topics for the storytelling live performances. The outreach work will be kicked-off during the week of the world heart day on September 29th 2021, when we start a larger dissemination campaign with a strong participation component. The activities will take place in the pedestrian area of the cities of Villach and Graz. A couple of initiatives like the interactive art installation Heart&Art, an atherosclerosis simulator, and the 100,000-steps-challenge will motivate pedestrians to participate and to learn something about their heart and how to keep it healthy.

The science communication project "HerzSache" pursued the goal of raising awareness and knowledge of cardiovascular diseases among a primarily young target group. The project kicked off with the public events "Heart&Art" in Graz and Villach. The local population was directly addressed and invited to actively participate in the creation of a heart artwork. Furthermore, information about cardiovascular diseases was passed on to passers-by through information brochures and personal interaction. The heart of the project were the so-called "HERZählungs-Abende" ("heart counting evenings"), which took place in localities in the cities of Graz and Villach. During these evenings, patients themselves, as well as scientists and health care professionals, shared personal stories related to cardiovascular disease. These "HERZählungen" were professionally recorded, thematically processed and subsequently published as a podcast (https://letscast.fm/herzaehlungen). Building on this, scientifically based education was disseminated on the digital channels (www.herzaehlungen.at and www.instagram.com/herzaehlungen) in the form of blog articles, interviews and exciting facts. In summary, the project was very successful in reaching a wide variety of target groups, especially young adults, through its diverse formats.