COVID-19 and Heart Conditions
Written by Dr Stephanie Mathews, ACHH Clinical Psychologist
Experiencing a serious medical event or condition is tough at the best of times. But what about in the middle of a pandemic?
At the time of writing, Melbourne is currently in yet another lockdown. This is one of many snap lockdowns across the country in the past few months. COVID-19 has left no-one untouched. However, those who have experienced a heart event or condition during this time have been hit with additional challenges. Lockdowns can hinder people’s emotional and physical recovery. Taking away the things that had been getting people through – exercise, work, nature, socialising, and ultimately, regaining a sense of normality.
At the Australian Centre for Heart Health, I am in the privileged position of supporting people through the challenges of recovering from a cardiac condition in the world of COVID-19. Following a cardiac event, it is common for people to be scared of being too far away from home or hospital. Part of recovery is gradually exposing yourself to scary situations to learn that the world is safe. This is difficult to do during lockdown. I hear of people struggling with the memory of being in hospital following a heart attack and not having family there to support them. Living in fear of going to hospital again because they do not want to be parted from their family. For others, this snap lockdown is a reminder of recovering at home following open-heart surgery, with limited social support. Bringing back memories of feeling vulnerable and isolated.
Lockdowns have been, and continue to be, an important tool in our fight against COVID-19. While we hope for the day when they will be a distant memory, for now they are always a possibility. I share my experiences, not to lament the current lockdown, but to let people know they are not alone. For health professionals, it is important to recognise the unique circumstances our cardiac patients are experiencing.
Our Cardiac Counselling Clinic provides specialist psychological support for those experiencing Cardiac Blues and/or depression following a cardiac event. For more information on how we can help your patients, please call us on 03 9326 8544 or visit our website.
Disclaimers:
All identifying patient information has been removed
The writer’s opinions are their own
Please refer to your local government website for current advice on COVID-19
Training Update
Obtain CPD points with our online training programs
With the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated restrictions, online learning has become increasingly important in the past 18 months. This is particularly true for busy health professionals seeking to undertake continuing professional development (CPD) in flexible and convenient ways. Online learning offers a variety of benefits compared to face-to-face learning, including 24/7 access, increased reach to health professionals in non-metropolitan areas, and the ability to obtain CPD in the comfort of your own home. To assist you in your professional development, we offer a range of online courses relevant to your work with cardiac patients, including our 5-module program on Supporting Self-Management in Cardiac Patients, our 2-module program on Supporting Self-Management in Heart Failure Patients, and our 1-module program on Supporting Patients with the Cardiac Blues. You can register for any of our online training programs through our website, or by telephoning the Centre.
Register for our flagship Cardiac Rehabilitation and Secondary Prevention Program
As you may know, our flagship 4-day training program is set to return this year after a hiatus in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are excited to say that we are now offering this as a hybrid program with both face-to-face and online streaming options. So you can either attend in person the old-fashioned way, or stream the program live online in this new COVID-normal world. The live program will run over 4 days, with an additional day of online learning prior to attendance at the live program. The training is being held on 15-18 November at Graduate House in Carlton Victoria. For this year only we are offering the training at the reduced price of $925, which is a discount of 30% off our usual price of $1,400. The training attracts 30 hours of CPD points. Please email us at training@australianhearthealth.org.au for more information or register online.
Women’s Yoga Cardiac Rehab
We are very pleased to let you know that the results of our Women’s Yoga CR Project have now been published.
The Women’s CR Project involved piloting a women-only yoga-based cardiac rehabilitation (CR) program designed to enhance the appeal of CR to women. In this Australian-first program, women cardiac patients were offered the yoga-based exercise sessions, designed by our Accredited Yoga Instructor Ms Jenni Morrison-Jack, instead of the usual exercise-based sessions offered as part of traditional cardiac rehabilitation. Funded by a Vanguard Grant from the National Heart Foundation, the project was undertaken by the Centre in conjunction with cardiologists and the cardiac rehabilitation team at Monash Health. The Centre’s Research Nurse, Ms Kim Tucker, managed the day-to-day running of the study.
The yoga CR program was designed to assist women in both their physical and emotional recovery. The program was extremely popular with women and resulted in enhanced completion of CR by those who participated. Women loved the sense of comfort and camaraderie through being in the women-only environment and gained a great deal both physically and mentally from the yoga sessions. Dr Barbara Murphy, the lead investigator on the project, presented results of the study at the Australian Cardiovascular Health and Rehabilitation Association (ACRA) conference, held online in August last year. She and her project team were awarded the Research Prize at the conference.
You can read the full study results in the published article: Murphy BM, Zaman S, Tucker K, Alvarenga M, Morrison-Jack J, Higgins R, Le Grande M, Nasis A, Jackson AC. Enhancing the appeal of cardiac rehabilitation for women: development and pilot testing of a women-only yoga CR program. European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing. 2021; https://doi.org/10.1093/eurjcn/zvab008
Kim recruiting our first participant, Amitha, into the Women’s Yoga CR Project.
Kim (right) and Jenni (left) with Amitha on her graduation from CR
Back on Track Project
We all know how difficult it is for our patients to make lifestyle changes after a heart event. And we also know that it is even more difficult to sustain these changes in the longer term.
Our Back on Track online program is designed to assist patients with their lifestyle changes by giving them tools and strategies for making changes, setting goals, sticking with activity plans and eating plans, with special support on what to do when slip-ups and setbacks occur.
We are now into the final two months of recruiting participants for our Back on Track Trial. Please refer your patients to us – particularly if they are waiting to attend your cardiac rehabilitation program. This program is a great thing for patients to do while they’re on the waitlist to attend CR.
We now have around 100 patients in the trial, and only have spots left for about 20 more participants. Patients can register for the trial directly on our website or via email backontrack@australianhearthealth.org.au. More information about the Back on Track program and trial is also available here.