THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 3, 1996 TAG: 9608030319
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY JEFFREY S. HAMPTON, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: CURRITUCK LENGTH: 78 lines
Nettie Hazel Hawkins looked strong and healthy pedaling a stationary bike at the Currituck Senior Citizens Center.
Nobody could tell she had suffered a heart attack just three months ago.
She's pushing herself to overcome a heritage of heart disease. Her mother and older sister both died of heart attacks.
``I want to do my exercises,'' said Hawkins, 69, continuing to pedal. ``My husband and I want to travel, and we have a lot of plans for the future that I don't want to miss out on.''
A part of Hawkins' plans to lengthen her life includes participation in a new program at the senior center called Smart Hearts. The Smart Hearts program combines exercise, education, diet and stress management to help seniors prevent heart disease or to recover from it. Hawkins' husband, Floyd, also is enrolled.
``I have a history of angina, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and heart valve problems,'' Floyd Hawkins said. ``Other than that, I'm all right.''
He believes participating in Smart Hearts motivates him to come to the center and do his exercises.
The Currituck Senior Center is the second in the region to start a rehabilitation program for heart patients. The other is the Thomas Baum Senior Center in Dare County. The Regional Medical Center in Kitty Hawk, an affiliate of Albemarle Hospital, and Dr. Seaborn Blair's office in Hatteras run similar programs.
``Smart Hearts is a combination education and exercise program,'' said Jim Stiles, director of cardiopulmonary rehabilitation for Albemarle Hospital. ``The idea is to educate seniors about heart healthy behavior. It's sort of an extension of what they learn in the hospital.''
Recovering heart patients normally go through structured exercise and diet programs, but once they are home, frequent trips to the hospital for exercise are inconvenient.
For weeks after her heart attack, Hawkins traveled from her home in Currituck to a Chesapeake hospital, having to be there by 6 a.m. Now she takes a one-minute drive to the center for a workout.
Each weekly session lasts about an hour, split evenly between exercise and instruction.
Thursday, Stiles and a nurse led the group in a workout with flexible cords called ``able cables.''
The cords looked like rubbery jump ropes with handles. Each senior wrapped one around a table leg and pulled first with one hand then another in a set of 10 as Stiles counted.
After a few other ``able cable'' drills, Stiles asked, ``Would you like to know a specific exercise with these things that will improve your golf or tennis game?''
``How about my bridge game?'' quipped Nell Aycock, 76.
Stiles couldn't help her, but he did demonstrate how to strengthen the upper arms for golf and tennis swings, favorite sports among seniors.
Stiles advocates combining strength and cardiovascular exercises.
``You tend to lose muscle mass as you age,'' said Stiles. ``When you strengthen muscles in the periphery of the body then there is less stress on the heart. If you can lift a bag of groceries without a lot of struggle, then it makes sense there is less stress on the heart.''
``Exercise and fitness has been proven to be very effective in preventing heart disease,'' said Jim Barry, deputy executive vice president of the North Carolina American Heart Association.
Cardiovascular disease and strokes cause 41 percent of all deaths, he said.
Christa Gregory, the senior coordinator at Currituck Senior Center, asked Stiles to start the heart maintenance program there. There are no hospitals or heart rehabilitation facilities in Currituck.
``Basically, I was concerned about so many of my seniors needing rehabilitation and maintenance therapy,'' said Gregory. ``Sometimes it gets monotonous for them when they buy these machines and work out at home. When we combine professionals with their peer group and good social contact then they get more excited about it.''
She invited all seniors to come, whether or not they have heart problems. For information, call Gregory at 232-3505 or Stiles at 331-4450. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by DREW C. WILSON, The Virginian-Pilot
Nettie Hazel Hawkins, 69, works out with ``able cables'' in the
Smart Hearts program at the Currituck Senior Citizens Center. by CNB