Running Out of Time: Why Black Hearts Fail Sooner

Episode 3: The Stress You Can’t See | RUNNING OUT OF TIME

KMOB1003 Radio — The Intelligence Source Chronic stress is not abstract. It leaves biological evidence. In Episode 3 of Running Out of Time, KMOB1003 Radio’s Heart Health Month Spotlight Series, we examine how chronic stress silently reshapes the body — raising blood pressure, increasing inflammation, and accelerating cardiovascular disease long before a crisis occurs. This episode moves beyond surface-level wellness advice and into physiology, prevention, and the systemic realities that disproportionately impact Black communities. Week 1 revealed the reality: Black hearts are failing sooner because intervention is coming later. Week 2 exposed the warning: Symptoms aren’t subtle — they’re ignored. Week 3 confronts the pressure: Stress is not emotional weakness. It is measurable strain on the heart. Featured Experts Anthony Fletcher, MD, FACC, FSCAI President, Association of Black Cardiologists Interventional Cardiologist Sandra Bruce Nichols, M.D., FAAFP, MHCDS, M.S. Physician, Author, and Heart Transplant Survivor What This Episode Covers • How chronic stress affects the cardiovascular system • The connection between environment, access, and heart health • Cardiac arrest disparities in Black communities • Understanding cardiac tamponade and emergency response • Why early screening and prevention change outcomes Series: Running Out of Time (Heart Health Month Spotlight) Episode 1 — The Reality: Why Black Hearts Are Failing Sooner Episode 2 — Missed Warnings: Symptoms Aren’t Subtle — They’re Ignored Episode 3 — The Stress You Can’t See Because some of the most dangerous pressure is the kind you never see coming.

Episode 4 — What We Can Still Change

Running Out of Time | Episode 4 — What We Can Still Change KMOB1003 Spotlight Series (Final Episode) Black Americans are dying from heart disease years — sometimes decades — earlier than they should. This is not inevitable. And it is not irreversible. In the final episode of Running Out of Time, we move from awareness to action. Over the past four weeks, this Spotlight Series has examined a hard truth: why Black hearts are failing sooner — and what can still be changed before time runs out. In Episode 4 — What We Can Still Change — the focus shifts to agency, accountability, and prevention that arrives early enough to matter. Dr. Anthony Fletcher, interventional cardiologist and former President of the Association of Black Cardiologists, explains where the system is losing time — and what meaningful prevention looks like in real life. Dr. Sandra Bruce Nichols brings a rare and powerful dual perspective: physician and heart transplant survivor. After surviving sudden cardiac death and receiving a life-saving heart transplant within two weeks, she now speaks not only from clinical leadership, but from lived experience. Her story reframes urgency, advocacy, and what it means to act before crisis. This episode addresses: • How to recognize warning signs earlier • What families can do now — not later • Why self-advocacy in healthcare matters • What institutions must change • And how we interrupt a pattern that has cost our community too many years This conversation is not about fear. It is about saving lives. If this series has informed you, share it. Let it be the reason someone schedules the appointment. Learns their numbers. Speaks up sooner. Because knowledge is only power when it saves a life.

Missed Warning Signs

Running Out of Time (Heart Health Month Spotlight Series) In Episode 2 of Running Out of Time, KMOB1003 Global Media’s Heart Health Month Spotlight Series, host Pamela F. Nichols is joined by Dr. Anthony Fletcher, MD, FACC, FAHA, FSCAI (President, Association of Black Cardiologists) and Dr. Sandra B. Nichols, MD, FAAFP, MHCDS, MS (Founder & CEO, The Samaritan Health Project™ and heart transplant survivor) to confront a critical question: What warning signs are we missing — and why? Heart disease rarely begins with a dramatic collapse. It often starts quietly — through fatigue, shortness of breath, swelling, irregular heartbeat, persistent headaches, or subtle changes in energy that are dismissed as stress, aging, or “just being busy.” This episode breaks down: • The early symptoms people ignore • Why Black patients are more likely to have warning signs minimized • The difference between prevention and late-stage intervention • How advocacy, awareness, and early screening can change outcomes This is not a fear-based conversation. It is a clarity-based one. Because heart health is not seasonal. It is infrastructure. New episodes premiere every Wednesday in February.

Running Out of Time: Why Black Hearts Fail Sooner

Running Out of Time is KMOB1003 Global Media’s inaugural Heart Health Month Spotlight Series, examining why Black communities continue to face disproportionate cardiovascular risk — and what must change to reverse it. Hosted by Pamela F. Nichols, President & CEO of KMOB1003 Global Media, the series convenes clinical authority, executive leadership, and lived experience to move beyond awareness into prevention, policy, and action. Featuring: Dr. Anthony Fletcher, MD, FACC, FSCAI — President, Association of Black Cardiologists Dr. Sandra B. Nichols, MD, FAAFP, MHCDS, MS — Founder & CEO, The Samaritan Health Project™ New episodes premiere every Wednesday in February.