WYOMING — Metro Health-University of Michigan Health launched the Pritikin Intensive Cardiac Rehab program for patients with heart disease.
Focusing on lifestyle, the program consists of three key elements: Healthy eating, regular exercise and a healthy mindset. It typically includes two to three visits a week over four to 18 weeks for 90 minutes each with structured exercise and lifestyle classes.
The Pritikin program is a “comprehensive, lifestyle change program, that not only provides patients with an exercise component, but also instructs the patient and their families on how to cook heart-healthy meals, become smart grocery shoppers, order intelligently in restaurants, lose weight utilizing science-based skills, quit smoking, manage stress and transform negative attitudes into positive ones,” said Dr. Barbara Karenko, a specialist in cardiovascular disease and interventional cardiology at Metro Health.
“When a patient experiences a serious heart event, they have two choices,” Karenko said. “They can continue to make the same choices — eat the same way, move the same way, handle stress the same way. Or they can choose to make key lifestyle changes to improve their health and achieve a much healthier and happier life.”
Metro is the first health system in West Michigan to offer the program for heart patients and the second in Michigan.
