Celebrate American Heart Month: Join the #OurHearts Movement
February is American Heart Month!
Did you know that people who have close relationships at home, work, or in their community tend to be healthier and live longer? One reason, according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), is that we’re more successful at meeting our health goals when we work on them with others. NHLBI launched the #OurHearts movement to inspire us to protect and strengthen our hearts with the support of others.
Here are some facts, how-to tips, and resources to inspire you to join with others, even if you can’t be physically together, to improve your heart health.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States. Most middle-aged and young adults have one or more risk factors for heart disease, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or being a smoker or overweight. Having multiple risk factors increases your risk for heart disease.
Why Connecting is Good for Your Heart
Feeling connected with others and having positive, close relationships benefit our overall health, including our blood pressure and weight. Having people in our lives who motivate and care for us helps, as do feelings of closeness and companionship.
Follow these heart-healthy lifestyle tips to protect your heart. It will be easier and more successful if you work on them with others, including by texting or phone calls if needed.
- Be more physically active.
- Maintain a healthy weight.
- Eat a nutritious diet.
- Quit smoking.
- Reduce stress.
- Get 7-9 hours of quality sleep.
- Track your heart health stats.
You don’t have to make big changes all at once. Small steps will get you where you want to go.
Move more
Invite family, friends, colleagues, or members of your community to join you in your efforts to be more physically active:
- Ask a colleague to walk “with you” on a regular basis, put the date on both your calendars, and text or call to make sure you both get out for a walk.
- Get a friend or family member to sign up for the same online exercise class, such as a dance class. Make it a regular date!
- Grab your kids, put on music, and do jumping jacks, skip rope, or dance in your living room or yard.
How much is enough? Aim for at least 2½ hours of physical activity each week—that’s just 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week. In addition, do muscle strengthening exercises 2 days a week. Can’t carve out a lot of time in your day? Don’t chuck your goal, chunk it! Try doing 10 minutes of physical activity at least three times a day. NHLBI’s Move More fact sheet has ideas to get and keep you moving.
Aim for a healthy weight
Find someone in your friend group, at work, or in your family who also wants to reach or maintain a healthy weight. (If you’re overweight, even a small weight loss of 5–10 percent helps your health.) Check in with them regularly to stay motivated. Agree to do healthy activities, like walking or cooking a healthy meal, at the same time, even if you can’t be together. Share low-calorie, low-sodium recipes. Check out NHLBI’s Aim for a Healthy Weight web page.
Eat heart-healthy
We tend to eat like our friends and family, so ask others close to you to join in your effort to eat healthier. Follow NHLBI’s Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) eating plan. Research shows that, compared to a typical American diet, it lowers high blood pressure and improves cholesterol levels. Find delicious recipes at NHLBI’s Heart-Healthy Eating web page.
Quit smoking
To help you quit, ask others for support or join an online support group. Research shows that people are much more likely to quit if their spouse, friend, or sibling does. Social support online can help you quit. All states have quit lines with trained counselors—call 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669). You’ll find many free resources to help you quit, such as apps, a motivational text service, and a chat line at BeTobaccoFree.hhs.gov and Smokefree.gov.
If you need extra motivation to quit, consider those around you: Breathing other people’s smoke, called secondhand smoke, is dangerous. Many adult nonsmokers die of stroke, heart disease, and lung cancer caused by secondhand smoke.
Manage stress
Managing stress helps your heart health. Set goals with a friend or family member to do a relaxing activity every day, like walking, yoga, or meditation, or participate in an online stress-management program together. Physical activity also helps reduce stress. Talk to a qualified mental health provider or someone else you trust.
Improve sleep
Sleeping 7–9 hours a night helps to improve heart health. De-stressing will help you sleep, as does getting a 30-minute daily dose of sunlight. Take a walk instead of a late afternoon nap! Family members and friends: remind each other to turn off the screen and stick to a regular bedtime. Instead of looking at your phone or the TV before bed, relax by listening to music, reading, or taking a bath.
Track Your Heart Health Stats, Together
Keeping a log of your blood pressure, weight goals, physical activity, and if you have diabetes, your blood sugars, will help you stay on a heart-healthy track. Ask your friends or family to join you in the effort. Check out NHLBI’s My Heart Health Tracker.
Visit #OurHearts for inspiration on what others around the country are doing together for their heart health. Then join the #OurHearts movement and let NHLBI know what you’re doing to have a healthy heart. Tag #OurHearts to share how you and your family and friends are being heart healthy. For more information about heart health, visit www.heartttruth.gov.
Holden Rehabilitation & Skilled Nursing Center, part of Oriol Health Care and the Oriol 360 Care Management Team, announces the promotion of Harry Quick, NHA to Administrator. Quick, of Worcester, began working for Oriol Health Care as a Resident Life Assistant at Holden Rehabilitation in 2016 and promoted to Resident Life Director in 2017. Quick’s continued enthusiasm and leadership skills led him to study as an AIT (Administrator-in-training) under the guidance of Tara D’Andrea, Holden’s then Administrator. Quick took on the role of Assistant Administrator in the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and after rigorous testing and exams, he is now a licensed Nursing Home Administrator (NHA) and has moved into the position of Administrator of Holden Rehabilitation & Skilled Nursing Facility. Quick holds a bachelor’s degree from Johnson & Wales University where he graduated Cum Laude from the Counseling Psychology program in 2015. His interests include spending time with his wife and children, basketball, music, and movies.
Tara D’Andrea, MBA, NHA of Paxton, has moved into a new position with Oriol Health Care as Director of Operations. In her new role, D’Andrea will be orchestrating the Oriol 360 concept while overseeing Holden Rehabilitation, Oriol Therapy Services and Oriol Home Health/Oriol At Home with the goal to strengthen and streamline Oriol’s coordination of integrated post-acute health care. D’Andrea will now be directing Oriol teams providing care within our nursing centers, in your homes, and in our outpatient therapy gym.
Holden, MA – Oriol Health Care is expanding their continuum of care concept, known as “ORIOL 360”, to include a partnership with Integral Health Partners (IHP) of Worcester. Allison Hargreaves, MD, the Medical Director of Oriol’s Holden Rehabilitation & Skilled Nursing Center, Oakdale Rehabilitation & Skilled Nursing Center, and Oriol Home Health has recently joined the IHP group of veteran nurse practitioners after working closely with them throughout the pandemic at Holden Rehab. As a component of the Oriol 360 Care Team, Dr. Hargreaves and the IHP nurse practitioners will assist not only with inpatient care of patients and residents at Holden and Oakdale but will also be able to follow patients of Oriol Home Health out in the local community. This partnership has increased the satisfaction and recovery of patients as well as reduced the number of readmissions to hospitals.
Please join us in congratulating Sheila Pawlak, LPN for moving into our newly created position of Case Manager at Holden Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Center. Sheila has been a dedicated nurse for Oriol for over 20 years and is a perfect fit for this integral position.
HOLDEN – Holden Rehab will be hosting their 5th annual Breakfast with Santa on December 7th. This year there will be a new Christmas Corner Marketplace with local crafters selling affordable, unique items in the therapy gym from 9am – 1pm. Free gift wrapping will be offered. Santa will be available in the library for photos from 9am to noon while a buffet breakfast is served in the community room. Printed photos will be available while supplies last. All ages are welcome and you are encouraged to bring your camera. Breakfast and photos are complimentary. RSVP to Harry Quick at 508-829-1119.
HOLDEN — Oriol Health Care of Holden has hired Mara P. Louinord of Milford as director of nursing services at Holden Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Center.