Enjoying Healthier Lives

Participants Enjoy Healthier Lives With Ornish Program

Coronary artery disease affects more than 14 million Americans and is the leading cause of death in the United States. WVUH's Dr. Dean Ornish Program provides an alternative to invasive procedures and surgeries for reversing heart disease.

"More than half of all heart patients develop the disease because of their lifestyle habits," said David Harshbarger, Ornish program director.

Poor dietary habits and a sedentary lifestyle, as well as stress and emotional problems, can all lead to heart disease. The Ornish Program works with individuals to change these habits.

The program combines a low-fat, vegetarian nutrition plan, low-impact exercise, stress management and group support. It is the first program scientifically proven to slow, stop and even reverse the progression of heart disease through diet and lifestyle changes.

"During the program, major lifestyle risk factors change and patients feel better so quickly that it is self-reinforcing," Harshbarger said. "By the time we meet the patients they already know about the program; therefore, we tend to get the more motivated people who want to control their own lifestyle."

One of those motivated participants is Mary Gansor, a 77-year-old graduate of the program.

Gansor, having been diagnosed with heart disease, read about the Ornish Program in a newspaper and decided to try it.

"I was having a lot of problems when I began the program, but it's helped me in many areas. I've lost a lot of weight and my blood cholesterol came down," Gansor said.

Prior to joining the program, Gansor's doctor suggested she have a cardiogram, but she felt she wasn't ready to take that step.

"I felt that I needed to do something or I was going to go backward. When I read about the program in the paper I thought it sounded like it might help, and it did," she said.

Reversing heart disease with the Ornish Program requires major lifestyle changes. "You have to be willing to give up a lot of the things you love," Gansor said, "I do like vegetables and fruits, but giving up coffee was the hardest part."

Gansor is just one of the many participants who have benefited from the Ornish Program. According to data compiled from WVUH's Ornish Program, participants have seen weight loss, increased exercise capacity, reduced blood pressure, reduced cholesterol levels and reduced blood sugar levels as well as reduced levels of stress.

In the past, several insurance plans, including Mountain State Blue Cross Blue Shield, Medicare and PEIA, reimbursed participants who had been diagnosed with heart disease; however, some are beginning to reimburse those who are at risk for the disease as well.

For more information on The Dr. Dean Ornish Program, call 293-2520.