Writings - Freelance Articles
Change of Heart
Munson Healthcare - December 31, 1998
Gary Pownall thought he was leading a healthy life.
The president of a local Real Estate One office, he exercised regularly, though not as often as he wanted, and ate sensibly, though not all the time.
Then the pains started—little twinges really, not enough to bother him much but enough to convince him to see a doctor.
What his doctor found nearly two years ago was “a huge aneurism” in one of the chambers of Pownall’s heart and severe blockage in two of his arteries. Pownall quickly underwent double bypass surgery and surgery to repair the aneurysm, and was put on a cardiac rehabilitation program.
It was there that he learned of Change of Heart, a 12-week program designed to halt the progress of heart disease and help counteract its effects. From its dietary recommendations and fitness education to the group support, Pownall found the program has made permanent changes in the way he lives and improvements in the way he feels.
“I've always been open to looking at (diet and lifestyle) modifications, but like a lot of people I'd fallen into a rut,” Pownall said. “The Change of Heart program makes it so easy for you to change because they've done the research ... and it’s put into a formula that’s easy to take in bite-sized chunks. Each week you learn a little bit more and it’s a cumulative benefit, so that by the end of the program you’ve had an opportunity to learn a lot, and not only learn it intellectually but live it.”
Marianne Foster, the Registered Nurse who developed the three-year-old program for Munson, said that’s the goal of Change of Heart.
“The research really supports that people can make huge changes in their health by lifestyle changes,” she said. “People want to do something easy like take a pill ... and that’s certainly possible but not everybody wants to do that.”
Pownall, now 53, is glad he doesn’t have to rely on medication alone to maintain his health and lower his cholesterol level.
“It's exciting to me that there’s the possibility that you can actually reverse heart disease if you follow the dietary considerations,” he said. “And you find out through Change of Heart that it isn't as difficult as you think.”