CARIBOU — Cary Medical Center has received two grants that will allow the hospital to continue its work to reduce the burden of heart disease and stroke in Aroostook County. The grant provided by the Bingham Program and the Broad Reach Fund of the Maine Community Foundation will strengthen the plant-based nutrition counseling program, further develop community outreach and conduct an overall evaluation of the program. The grants are also designed to help create approaches to make healthy foods more accessible to people living in the region.
Bill Flagg, director of community relations and development at Cary, said that the grants came at a critical time and will help lead to a healthier community.
“We have been very fortunate to receive two years of funding from AstraZeneca HealthCare Foundation to establish the Healthy Hearts Healthy Community program,” said Flagg, who supervises the project. “Thanks to the AstraZeneca Healthcare Foundation, we have been able to establish the plant-based nutrition counseling program, which can literally save and improve lives here in The County. Now with a combination of these two grants, we will be able to develop a comprehensive evaluation of the program and expand the effort throughout the region.”
In addition to the plant-based counseling, the grants will support an effort to make fruits and vegetables and other plant-based foods more accessible. Flagg said that educating the general public about the benefits of eating more fruits and vegetables is critically important.
“You can’t turn on the TV or pick up a magazine without hearing about the benefits of eating more fruits and vegetables. From heart disease to cancer, even Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes, all of the chronic illnesses can benefit from a healthier diet.”
The Healthy Hearts Healthy Community program maintains a website at gohealthyhearts.org. The site features plant-based recipes and an archive of television shows that have focused on making people aware of the risk factors for heart disease and ways to reduce them.
Healthy Heart Buffets at local restaurants featuring plant-based menus, blood pressure screening clinics, seminars and special events have all been part of the initiative. But at the core of the program has been the plant-based counseling. Forty-five individuals have participated in the 12-week counseling sessions, and approximately 80 percent have stayed with the diet over the past 18 months.
Those individuals who have followed the low-fat plant-based guidelines based on the recommendations of Caldwell Esselstyn, Jr., MD, of the Cleveland Clinic, have experienced dramatic improvements in their overall heart health, including lowering cholesterol levels, improving blood pressure and losing weight.
Hope Walton, RN, cardiac nurse and clinical director for the plant-based counseling program, said that the counseling could be promoted as a weight-loss program.
“The average weight loss for our participants who stick with the diet is 15 pounds in just 12 weeks,” said Walton, who was trained in the program at the Cleveland Clinic. “But we have seen people lose 30 pounds, get off their medications and drop their cholesterol from 30 to 60 points. Patients also say that chronic pain goes away, they have more energy and that they would never go back to the way they were eating before they experienced the benefits of the plant-based diet.”
According to estimates from national studies, the lifetime costs for a person with cardiovascular disease is close to $1 million. The costs for heart disease and stroke for the nation is approaching $500 billion annually with no end in sight.
More than 150,000 deaths in people under the age of 65 are caused by heart disease or stroke. Tragically, a significant amount of heart disease and related deaths could be prevented through lifestyle changes. The Healthy Hearts Healthy Community program is a response to this issue.
Cary is planning another round of the plant-based diet counseling program in the spring. The program will start with an all-day seminar on Saturday, April 13, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Caribou Inn and Convention Center. A $38 fee will be charged for the cost of the seminar, which includes a plant-based lunch. Seating is limited to 80.
Norma Watson, a licensed clinical social worker at The Aroostook Medical Center, and who has made a change in lifestyle, adapting to the low-fat plant-based diet, will also assist with the seminar. Watson will focus on the behavioral aspects of the program.
“Making a lifestyle change to the plant-based diet involves transition and changing behavior. The seminar will outline the clinical reasons why the diet works in preventing and reversing heart disease as well as the risk factors for stroke,” Watson said. “And we will also learn how we make behavioral adjustments to succeed through the transition. Once patients make the change and begin to engage the diet, they will find it is delicious as well as healthy.”
Patients who want to participate in the plant-based counseling program must attend the seminar to qualify for the program and must have at least one risk factor for heart disease. A maximum of 10 patients are included in each counseling series. Patients must be referred to the program by their health-care provider.
The cost for counseling is $12 a week over the 12-week program. Participants will meet weekly, hold potluck meals, share experiences and assess their progress in improving their health status.
For more information or to pre-register for the plant-based nutrition seminar, call the public relations office at Cary at 498-1112.
