UA Physiology Exhibit Explains Heart Health and Heart Disease at the Tucson Festival of Books Science City

The Tucson Festival of Books brings thousands of people to the University of Arizona mall every year. One of the largest attractions that makes the festival unique is Science City. Learners of all ages experience science through hands-on activities that teach a wide range of topics, from sound waves to insect behavior to how the body works.

The UA Department of Physiology and the UA Physiology Club participate in Science City each year with an exhibit focusing on the Heart Health and Disease. The booth includes models that show festival-goers what the heart looks like and how it functions, trivia to inform them about disease and how to prevent it, and blood pressure cuffs to see where they fall on the guidelines for hypertension.

This year during the March 2019 Tucson Festival of Books, the department and the club partnered with the UA Biomedical Engineering Society and the College of Medicine’s REACT (Resuscitation Education and CPR Training) club. Hundreds of people, young and old, became proficient at performing compression-only CPR on a mannequin and learned why it’s harder for blood to move through a blocked artery by watching children run through an obstacle course made up of vessels with or without plaque (foam).