Bea Nijboer: Good information is so important!

Good information is so important!

Bea Nijboer has been working at the LEEFH Foundation since January 2019. Prior to that, she held various positions in the healthcare sector. Bea is no stranger to LEEFH; she previously worked at STOEH (Foundation for the Detection of Hereditary Hypercholesterolemia).

Silent killer

“We used to actively reach out to people,” says Bea Nijboer. “That was much more effective; sometimes entire families would be screened for high cholesterol. Now people have to indicate themselves that they want to be tested. But in that regard, FH is truly a silent killer; no one knows if they have it. You don’t feel high cholesterol, while in the meantime all kinds of damage can be done to your body.”

Office Job
It took Bea a while to get used to it—going from direct contact with patients to an office job. “Still, I have a lot of contact with people here too. People want to ask questions, and I explain FH to them. It often happens that general practitioners don’t want to order an (expensive) DNA test because they think it’s not that serious. Then we ask if we can help mediate. I can make a real difference for people.”

We're still looking for 40,000 more people!

Bea is far from finished with her work. They’re still looking for 40,000 more people. “It’s so important to raise awareness about the foundation and the work we do,” Bea says passionately. “Things used to be much more effective at STOEH, but now I’m following up with people who once requested a package but haven’t responded yet. We’re coming up with different ways to find those 40,000 people after all.”

An invisible illness 

FH is an invisible disease, but you can become quite ill if you’re unaware of the condition in your body. Once people learn they have FH, it’s therefore crucial that they make lifestyle changes. The advice is to avoid fatty foods, get plenty of exercise, and take good care of yourself. “I talk to so many people,” says Bea. “When someone gets tested because I’ve given them good information, then we can certainly say that we’re saving lives at LEEFH.”