Take control of your heart health with the Dr. Dean Ornish Program for Reversing Heart Disease

Open house to be held Jan. 8

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Make a new year’s resolution to take better care of your heart and join the next session of the Dr. Dean Ornish Program for Reversing Heart Disease, which will kick off in January at WVU Healthcare.

Candidates for the program include:

• People who are contemplating bypass surgery or angioplasty but seeking an alternative that may reduce the need for these procedures.
• People who have previously experienced one or more heart procedures and want to minimize the chances of repeating them.
• People diagnosed with coronary artery disease (angina or past heart attacks).
• People with significant risk factors for heart disease, such as high cholesterol levels and a strong family history.

The Dr. Dean Ornish Program for Reversing Heart Disease is a nine-week program offering hope to heart patients by enabling them to lower their risk of heart attack and avoid the need for angioplasty and coronary bypass surgery.

“This lifestyle modification program enables participants to slow, stop and reverse many of the symptoms of coronary artery disease,” Dave Harshbarger, program director at WVU Healthcare, said. “Many people are able to avoid invasive procedures and stave off first or repeat heart attacks or strokes.”

The Ornish Program combines a low-fat vegetarian diet, moderate aerobic exercise, stress management, and social support to reduce chest pain (angina), blockages in coronary arteries, and serum cholesterol levels. The programs components help improve blood flow through the heart muscle, exercise capacity, and the sense of well-being and satisfaction with life.

Those insured by Medicare, PEIA, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, and Geisinger Health Plan may qualify for coverage.

Interested individuals can attend an open house at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 8 at the WVU Health Sciences Center’s John Jones Conference Center. To register and to get directions, call 304-293-2520.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death among men and women in West Virginia and the United States. In fact, it kills nearly 7,000 West Virginians each year; in the United States, that number is closer to a half million.