Feb. 6--Each year, more than a million people in the United States suffer a heart attack.
And about half of them die, most before they get to the hospital, according to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute,.
About half of all heart attack deaths occur within one hour of the start of symptoms and before the person reaches the hospital.
"It's what we call the 'golden hour,' the time between (when) symptoms first appear and treatment occurs," said Lori Steinhart, a cardiac rehabilitation nurse at Schuylkill Medical Center-South Jackson Street.
Patients often don't recognize the symptoms and that they're actually having a heart attack. They may delay seeking treatment, which can cause further damage to the heart, she said.
For survivors, a return to a full and active life is possible with lifestyle changes, medication, proper followup treatment and cardiac rehabilitation, said Crys Zimmerman, a clinical exercise physiologist in the cardiac rehabilitation center at SMC-South Jackson Street.
A heart attack occurs when the blood flow that brings oxygen to the heart muscle is severely reduced or cut off completely, resulting in damage or death to the heart muscle.
"Once you lose that muscle, you can't get it back," Zimmerman said. "You need to strengthen what's left, to pick up the slack for the part that's damaged."
Although the heart is damaged and cannot be repaired, it's possible to prevent further damage and reduce the risk of a future heart attack, Zimmerman continued.
Advanced age, being male and having a family history of heart disease are risk factors that can't be changed, but there are other controllable risk factors that can reduce a person's risk of having a heart attack or prevent another one from occurring, she said.
These include quitting smoking, taking steps to lower high blood pressure and reduce high blood cholesterol, maintaining a healthy weight, increasing daily physical activity, and, if diabetic, managing the disease.
Cardiac rehabilitation at the medical center is an individualized program that helps improve the health of people who have heart attacks and other cardiovascular conditions through exercise training, education on "heart healthy" living and stress counseling.
A cardiac rehabilitation program is vital to recovery, Steinhart said.
"After being in the program, many of our patients tell us that they actually feel healthier than they've felt in years," Zimmerman said. "Having a heart attack is really a wakeup call for many of our patients that makes them ... make healthier changes in their lives."
"It all has to work together," she said. "Just doing one thing right -- for example, exercising but still smoking -- won't work," she said. "One thing you do doesn't negate the other thing you don't do."
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