By Barbara Scott
Staff Writer
On Tuesday, administrators and staff from Cary Medical Center hosted a special media event in the Chan Center. At this time Kris Doody, CEO/R.N. announced that the Astra Zeneca HealthCare Foundation has awarded a grant in the amount of $187,000 from its Connections for Cardiovascular Health Program, to the local hospital for the purpose of addressing cardiovascular disease in Aroostook County.
Aroostook Republican photo/Barb Scott
Staff members representing Cary Medical Center and the Aroostook Mental Health Center who will be working closely together on the Healthy Heart program, made possible through a grant from the AstraZeneca HealthCare Foundation include, from left: Dr. Julie Maxson, clinical psychologist at AMHC; Greg Disy, LCSW/ CEO at AMHC; Hope Walton, R.N. and cardio nurse at CMC; Cara Miller, CMC wellness coordinator; and Kim Jones, director of Cary Medical Center’s “Healthy You” program.
The grant will focus on encouraging healthy eating styles including a “plant-based” diet approach as well as fund a variety of health promotion efforts designed to improve the public’s knowledge about the risk factors for heart disease.
According to information provided by the AstraZeneca Health Care Foundation, the initiatives are aimed at extreme rural communities in the most northeastern county in the United States. The programs involve a cardiovascular disease educational campaign that includes a television series and recruiting farms, restaurants and grocery stores to increase community access to healthy foods.
Valuable, heart-healthy resources will be provided to the people of Aroostook County identified by the CDC and Maine Department of Health and Human Services as having some of the highest heart disease death rates in the United States.
Doody stated, “It is the primary goal of our program to help our population choose good nutrition and healthy lifestyles to enhance their cardiovascular health and to make health information and resources accessible to everyone. The urgency of the cardiovascular disease problem in the region will become widely known and we will encourage people towards lifestyle modifications that reduce risk factors for heart disease and make positive healthy choices that we hope will become a way of life.”
The “Connections for Cardiovasular Healthy” grant will be used to help transition individuals with heart disease to a plant-based diets. Cary Medical Center will also conduct health promotion efforts to inform people of risk factors for heart disease with a goal of creating behavioral changes towards a healthy lifestyle.
“Cardiovascular disease is taking a terrible toll on our families, our communities and our nation,” said James W. Blasetto, MD, chairman of the AstraZeneca HealthCare Foundation. “Cary Medical Center is developing creative heart-healthy programs tailored to meet the individual needs of residents in rural Maine.”
Staff members from Cary Medical Center and the Aroostook Mental Health Center (AMHC) will travel to the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, sometime in March to attend a seminar featuring Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, author of “Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease.” Dr. Esselstyn, who was a key speaker at the Siruno Stroke Prevention Conference sponsored by Cary Medical, in June of last year, is the director of the Wellness Institute at the Cleveland Clinic. He is also the former director of the vascular surgery program at the Ohio clinic, which is the largest hospital in the world and the first hospital to perform open heart surgery. Dr. Esselstyn addressed those attending the press conference via a Skype connection from his home in Ohio.
Following their orientation to the Esselstyn Program, project staff members Hope Walton, a cardio R.N. at Cary Medical Center and Dr. Julie Maxson, a clinical psychologist with AMHC, will counsel patients interested in transitioning to the ‘plant-based’ diet to prevent and reverse heart disease. Dr. Wayne Smith, anesthesiologist at Cary will also travel to the Cleveland Clinic for the seminar and will serve as medical advisor to the grant program.
In addition to the patient counseling, the heart-healthy project will also provide for a 30-minute television program, “Let’s Talk Health,” which will be produced and aired on WAGM television and Fox8. This program will work closely with “Healthy You”, a service area-wide health promotion currently offered by Cary Medical Center and directed by Kim Jones. “Healthy You” provides community health promotions in six area communities by visiting the individual community two months each year. Accordingly, thousands of local citizens have participated in the “Healthy You” programs over the past three years.
Doody emphasized that cardiovascular disease and stroke have been major problems in Aroostook County for years and that the grant will help create a more informed public. “The incidence of heart disease and stroke, including sudden death in Aroostook County are among the highest in the nation,” she stated. “We believe that this grant award will provide for a wealth of information and resources to people , expose them to a different nutritional approach and encourage these individuals to make healthy choices that will become a way of life.”
Another element of the project will be to establish a “Heart Healthy Buffet” at area restaurants. Restaurants in the region will be visited by project staff who will work with the business owners to establish “plant-based’ meal options on a monthly basis.
This project will also work with local grocers encouraging more availability of healthy foods and to help consumers more easily identify smart choices. The promotion of organic foods and locally-grown produce and farmers markets will be featured within the “Healthy Hearts” program.
David Nicoli, president of the AstraZeneca HealthCare Foundation addressed the media through video conferencing from the Foundation’s office in Wilmington, Dela.
Greg Disey, LCSW/CEO Aroostook Mental Health Center, also spoke briefly on the importance of the partnership between AMHC and Cary Medical Center regarding this project.
Following the Feb. 15 press conference those attending were invited to a luncheon featuring a plant-based menu.
The AstraZeneca HealthCare Foundation program, “Connections for Cardiovascular Health,” awards grants of $150,000 and up to U.S.-based non-profit organizations that are doing innovative work in the field of cardiovascular health. Organizations can learn more and apply online for a foundation grant at www.astrazeneca-ua.com/foundation. For the current year, applications must be completed by April 20.
For more information on CMC’s “Healthy Hearts” program, contact Bill Flagg at 498-1376.
