If you don't have your health, nothing else matters.
A local nurse is hoping to encourage women in New Westminster to spend a little time improving their health with a unique prevention program offered through the B.C. Women's Hospital and Health Centre.
Diane Middagh is a family nurse practitioner and member of the Women's Heart Program team. The New Westminster resident says the program is a unique opportunity for women to help protect themselves from heart disease.
"Heart disease is the number 1 killer of women in Canada," she said.
"Lifestyle modification is challenging for all of us. Most people have a good understanding of health (changes), but making the next step - getting assistance and making some of those changes - can be tough."
The program is open to women of all ages who have at least two of the following conditions: high blood pressure, diabetes or pre-diabetes, family history of heart disease, smoking history, obesity, metabolic syndrome, depression, or high or low cholesterol.
Women can be referred through their doctors or call themselves to book an appointment without a referral.
Middagh says they then have some blood work done and are scheduled for the first appointment, which is an hour long.
"In that first appointment, we go over risk factors for heart disease, we do a complete cardiovascular exam and start the process of looking at some action plans," she said.
These are done one-on-one, though the program has recently begun offering some group medical appointments, which have been quite successful.
"Women learn from each other in a group setting - it helps with decreasing isolation - and de-stigmatizing chronic diseases that they may have," she said.
Patients then follow up with a 30-minute appointment, usually between six weeks and three months, and additional appointments as needed. Though most come in person, they can also request telephone followup if their schedule makes it difficult to get in.
Though Middagh notes that they don't yet have statistics to compare the outcomes for women in the program to those with no interventions, they do see significant improvements in individual cases.
"We have had people quit smoking, lose some weight, dropped blood pressure - and certainly it's improving self-efficacy, improving knowledge," she said.
Middagh notes that the clinic is no-charge and encourages people to consider contacting them if they have two or more of the listed conditions.
The clinic runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. two days a week (Monday and Friday) at B.C. Women's Health Centre.
Call 604-875-3290 for more information or to book an appointment.
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