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The Lucknow Sentinel, 2016-10-05, Page 9Wednesday, October 5, 2016 • Lucknow Sentinel 9 New study suggests doctors worldwide should emulate Goderich's Healthy Hearts cardiac rehab program Darryl Coote Editor A study of patients in a Goderich cardiac rehabilita- tion program is challenging how similar programs worldwide should run. Published in "The Cana- dian Journal of Rural Medi- cine" last spring, the paper "Rural cardiac rehabilitation: a 20 -year success story" shows that patients who par- ticipate long-term in cardiac rehabilitation programs are substantially healthier than those discharged after a year and told to independently exercise. Before council Sept. 26, some of the paper's authors said that their study of patients in the Healthy Hearts Rehabilitation Pro- gram has worldwide significance. "We have shown through this study that people who are involved in cardiac rehab, that are allowed to stay with the program and do stay with the program, their physiological markers of fitness can be maintained for a decade or longer," said Dr. Michael Dawson, one of three authors of the paper who spoke to council Mon- day night. The study analyzed 866 stress tests of 85 Healthy Hearts program patients over the last 18 years, finding that those who have been in the program for two years were able to perform a stress test -- which is usually walk- ing on a treadmill or riding a stationary bike --15 per cent longer than they did after their first year in the pro- gram. And over the next nine years, patients performed the test 35 per cent longer than they did after their first year in the program. Most patients in cardiac rehabilitation programs complete the program any- where between six weeks and a year and a half, follow- ing which they are encour- aged to exercise on their own. After exiting the pro- gram the patient usually exhibits a decline in health. However, the paper shows that those who stay in the program indefinitely have a marked improvement in their health over the long term, Dawson said. "Any program, any cardio rehab program in the world which usually discharges people after six weeks, six months, a year and a half, they're going to have to take notice that that's not the best thing for their patients, that programs should be looking at redesigning to allow peo- ple to participate long term," Dawson said. Since most cardiac reha- bilitation programs dis- charge patients before the two-year mark, there is no data on the long-term effects of patients receiving this type of care over a long period of time, let alone nearly two decades, said E. Kent Gillin, a retired Doctor of Rehabilitation Sciences from the University of West- ern Ontario and the primary researcher on the study. That is except for those at Health Hearts, he said. This study has never been done before because "this evidence does not exist [elsewhere] in the world," said Dawson. The second part of the study was then to under- stand why patients stay in the program for an average of eight years. "They have you doing sit- ups and calisthenics and bikes, and I wouldn't stay with it," Gitlin joked, but then added that most people don't stay in theses programs when given the option "and that's what fascinated us." He said most people expe- rience the benefits of exer- cise, but those benefits aren't usually enough to keep people returning to the program. What they discov- ered, he said, is that there's something unique to the Goderich facility. "The reason they stayed with the program has to do with the amount of laughter and fun they had in the pro- gram and something called hedonic well being," he said. Chocolate is an example. Hedonic well-being is like chocolate, Gillin offered; something that brings pleas- ure and quickly dissipates. This hedonic well being brings and nurtures a sense of eudaimonicwellbeing, he said. "It's a sense of purpose for [one's] independence in life, and that's what these pro- grams give," he said. Dr. Majed Fiaani, who works at Healthy Hearts through the Alexandra Marine and General Hospital and participated in the retro- spective study, told council he and his team took such meticulous and detailed notes over the years so as to provide his patients with the highest quality of care. "The driving force for me is to provide state-of-the-art treatments to the patients who have heart disease almost as if they went to the Mayo Clinic," he said referring to one of the most respected hospitals in the world. Councillor Michele Hansen, who said she has participated in a Healthy Hearts program, told council that the nurses of the facility deserve as much credit for its success as its doctors. "If there is that hedonic benefit, it's they're the choc- olate. They are the ones that tell the jokes, that keep you coming back every day," she said. The doctors will be giving a presentation on their find- ings later this October at The 2016 Canadian Cardiovascu- lar Congress. "I came here today only to tell you that this is going to one of those conferences that we don't often get to go to in Montreal. I also came to pay respect to people who've been involved with this pro- gram since its inception," Gitlin said. Huron Tourism Association votes to disband citing unclear vision and slashed budget from county Darryl Coote The Goderich Signal Star The Huron Tourism Asso- ciation (HTA) voted to dis- band Sept. 27, stating it no longer had the means, authority or ability to func- tion effectively following the county's recent restructuring of its economic development department. Its president Kim Burgsma said it was a sad end for the 27 -year-old industry associ- ation but it was left with no other option after Huron County decided in Decem- ber of 2015 to reduce the association's county support from about $200,000 to $10,000 in cash and in-kind human resources. "We don't see any way around it," she told The Sig- nal Star over the phone the day after the vote. "With the lack of funding and staff sup- port that we now receive it's not possible for us to do the things that were done in the past:' The decrease in funding went into effect Jan. 1, 2016, and was the byproduct of a restructuring plan signed two weeks earlier by county council to give more empha- sis to economic develop- ment in Huron. The restructuring plan, which lays out seven key growth sectors -- one of which is tourism now combined with arts and culture -- follows the crea- tion of the economic devel- opment department under two years ago in a move by the county to address its stagnating industry. Since Jan. 1, however, Burgsma says traffic to the county's tourism website has dropped 50 per cent on year sounding the alarm that tourism has not been a focus for the economic develop- ment department. "It's down 50 per cent because there isn't a dedi- cated tourism staff that is offering contests, promo- tions and different social media that could be attract- ing visitors," she said. She said the decision to disband was in part to spur the economic development department to take owner- ship over the tourism sector and "force them to do some- thing for tourism in Huron County." Burgsma's other issue is that she has been unable to discover the department's plan for tourism. If she knew, she said, it might have been possible for the HTA to func- tion alongside the economic development department, but without the plan the two organizations' objectives might overlap causing redundancies and a waste of resources. "Their strategic plan to us is vague," she said. "... I would like to trust that since tourism is one of the pillars of economic development in the county -- they identify that in their draft plan -- that they have some sort of plan they will move [tourism] for- ward in the future, but we're not aware of what that is." However, the director of the economic development department, Ron Gaudet, says the restructuring will place tourism in greater focus. Over the phone Sept. 29, Gaudet told The Signal Star the restructuring of eco- nomic development was done to better address a rap- idly changing world. "Our new strategy speaks to addressing that by giving more capacity and building strength around tourism ... And in the future -- hope- fully not too distant future -- giving it more attention and more leverage," he said. He said the department is in transition, which may make its direction appear murky to the HTA, but it is anything but. "We're really trying to elevate each of the sectors," he said. "It's unfortunate the perception was a weak- ening of the organization. That was never the intent. That being said, we're now prepared to move forward and continue our emphasis on tourism, arts and culture:' One reason for the dras- tic drop in staff support to the organization was because they could no longer dedicate resources to any one of the seven sec- tors, he said. Questions also arose around whether it was appropriate for the county to perform the day-to-day work of the HTA when it's a membership association that did not include every player in the industry, he said. Before the restructuring, much of the $200,000 went to work hours by Huron County staff. After, the allotted $10,000 for the next three was to help the HTA establish itself as a healthy industry - lead association, he said. "We had offered to work with them," he said. "Again, we can't fund an industry - lead association. Healthy industry associations need to be lead by industry." Following the restructur- ing, the county's manufac- turing association was offered the same deal, Gaudet said, and they "jumped at the chance to become more self-sufficient." "They have gone through strategic planning exercises with the [Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs], they have their $10,000 -- albeit not a lot of money -- and they are going forward and really being industry focused and industry driven, and we will look at ways to support their efforts going for- wards," he said. That was the intent for the HTA as well, he said. However, with the HTA soon to be dissolved the economic development department will be looking for other avenues for indus- try participation. Gaudet wouldn't say he was disappointed that the HTA will be no more, only that he is disappointed it had the notion the county was less interested in attracting tourist dollars. "We're very serious about [tourism], and we know the tourism operators and members of the association had a real conviction to the industry as well. And we appreciate that. We acknowledged it. We appre- ciate it," he said, adding that he is grateful for all their work. "I guess if there's any disappointment it is the perception that the county is trying to weaken its effort in tourism. That is not the case," he said. As the owner of a hotel, Burgsma is invested in Huron County tourism whether the association exists or not, she said. And she wants to be a part of the process and she wants to know exactly what the county's plan is. "Times change and things sometimes have to change as a result," she said. "And the county has assured us that they have a plan for tourism, so we're going to trust in that but they have not been able to communicate to us what that plan is." Lucknow Tuesday Night Bowling scores for Sept. 27 Lucknow Tuesday Night Bowling scores are in for Sept. 27, 2016. HIGH SINGLE - FEMALE Sydney Hunter - 193 and MALE: Kevin Finnigan - 217. HIGH TRIPLE - FEMALE: Lea Anne Haldenby - 460 and MALE: Kevin Finnigan 524.