Heart-disease patients committed to improving their health are finding a new reason for hope at the Heart Disease Reversal Program now offered as a collaborative project by UCSF and California Pacific Medical Centers. Located at UCSF/Mount Zion Medical Center, the new program provides a combination of moderate exercise, stress management, nutritional guidance and group support offering patients a healthier lifestyle that can reverse heart disease.

The pioneering program is based on the work of UCSF clinical professor of medicine Dean Ornish, MD, and his colleagues at the Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito.

"This is the only program scientifically proven to reverse heart disease without drugs or surgery," Ornish said. "It provides many people with a scientifically grounded way of empowering themselves to make comprehensive changes in diet and lifestyle."

Part of the newly formed UCSF Program in Integrative Medicine, the Heart Disease Reversal Program is the only one of its kind in Northern California and will serve patients throughout the greater Bay Area.

Participants in the program meet initially for a 12-week session in which they receive more than 100 hours of care, heart-disease education, stress management, and heart-healthy gourmet meals with nutritional education. The team of experts includes a physician, an exercise physiologist, nurses, a registered dietitian, a specially trained chef and stress management and group leaders.

It's intensive, but it may be the key to better cardiac health for patients like Dan Marks -- who already has a family history of heart disease. A 55-year-old investment banker from Oakville in the Wine Country, Marks had his first heart attack 11 years ago. He doesn't want to face another one. Although Marks has tried a number of practices over the years from exercise to yoga, it wasn't until he read "Dr. Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease" that he found something to put it all together.

"My personal challenge is to make this integrative plan work for me. I want to keep stress down, diet, maintain meditation and be involved in the group process," he said. "I think this is the path to a more balanced life."

Over the initial 12-week program, Marks attended a five-hour session twice a week at UCSF/Mount Zion. His time was divided into exercise, stress management, a group support meeting with other participants, and a gourmet dinner with a nutrition lecture and cooking demonstration. It's a time commitment, but Marks reasoned, "I had to become a priority."

He's in good company. The diverse group included men and women of difference ages and health backgrounds. Participants have quickly learned to come together for support -- an added benefit for Marks. "The idea of talking to other people openly and sharing your feelings is part of opening your heart," Marks said. The program is offered in three stages. Following the initial 12 weeks, staff may recommend that participants continue to Stage 2 which continues to build on the lifestyle changes made in Stage 1. Participants who do not require this kind of follow-up may be referred to the program's "self-directed community," a support network for graduates.

"It is gratifying to watch the significant progress that participants make in this program," said the program's medical director, Anne Thorson, MD, who is also a cardiologist in private practice at California Pacific Medical Center. "By participating in the Heart Disease Reversal Program, men and women who have been struggling with coronary artery disease can experience improved health, and a dramatically different approach to healthy living that's rooted in the program's substantial lifestyle changes," she said. "It is equally gratifying to participate in this visionary collaborative project between two institutions -- CPMC and UCSF -- that are committed to excellence in innovative patient care," she said.

The program is designed for patients who have ischemic coronary artery disease and are considering surgery; patients who have previously had surgery; or patients who are at high-risk for coronary artery disease. All patients referred to the program remain under the care of their referring physician. For more information on the program, contact Kevin Worth, RN, Heart Disease Reversal Program manager at 415/353-4278.

By Dale Martin

1st appeared 10/13/97

RETURN TO TOP