Frye Regional Medical Center hosts annual Heart Walk at YMCA to spread heart health awareness – Hickory Daily Record

HICKORY Frye Regional Medical Center (FRMC) hosted its annual Heart Walk on Saturday morning at the Hickory Foundation YMCA Walking Track to celebrate the hospitals heart center and educate the community on heart health.

Our program is the only full service cardiovascular program, FRMC CEO Gar Atchison said.

The FRMC Heart Center includes cardiologists, invasive cardiologists, interventional cardiologists, electrophysiology and cardiovascular surgery.

We will have patients come through the emergency department showing signs of a heart attack, Atchinson said. Sometimes, interventional cardiology can put a stint in to stop the heart attack, but other patients need more.

Patients who need more heart care at FRMC do not have to travel very far to receive the appropriate level of care.

We have this integrated full-service team that works together to provide continuity so a patient does not have to be transported somewhere else to get the right kind of intervention, which delays the care, all of which creates poor outcomes, Atchinson said.

FRMC works with Duke Lifepoint and its focus is on the cooperation between the various parts of the heart center to improve cardiovascular care.

The heart program a Frye is one of the best around us, Ghassan Alkoutami, cardiologist at Piedmont Cardiology, said. We do so many things to improve the communitys heart health.

The Heart Walk is an example of FRMCs attempt to improve the communitys heart health.

We also do prevention measures within our practice, Alkoutami said. I always tell patients to stop smoking, eat healthier and exercise.

As patients leave Piedmont Cardiology or the heart center at FRMC, nurses educate those released about maintaining a healthy heart.

Nurses will educate patients on what they need to do to keep their hearts healthy and prevent another heart attack in the future, Alkoutami said. We are so happy to be doing this.

Multiple booths were set up on the walking track with information on heart health.

We have some guidelines from the American Heart Association on how to generally follow a healthy diet for heart health, Jessica Quinn, registered dietician, said.

Quinns booth was focused on the nutritional value of foods some of which are not good for heart health.

We do not want to eat too many processed foods, so limiting time that we go out to eat, Quinn said. We also want to watch added sugars.

Sugar is in everything and added sugar is typically what causes us to gain weight when we consume it too much and it is also bad for our heart health.

Quinn said that paying more attention to food labels, and more specifically the ingredients, could help people recognize unhealthy foods.

There are 61 different names for sugar in our food, so its not going to come right out and say sugar, Quinn said. There is high fructose corn syrup, glucose and anything that ends with ose is a form of sugar.

However, whole grains are great for heart health, Quinn said, but even if a product contains whole grains does not necessarily mean it is the best option.

It can be confusing to read the labels, because something may say it contains whole grains, but that does not mean it is 100 percent whole grain, Quinn said.

For more information about FRMCs Heart Center, call 828-315-5000 or visit http://www.fryemedctr.com/our-services/heart-care.

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Frye Regional Medical Center hosts annual Heart Walk at YMCA to spread heart health awareness - Hickory Daily Record