Walking for Heart Health

Heart attack leads to lifestyle change

DAVENPORT, Iowa - It’s really no surprise that Jim Doran was at work when his heart attack hit nine years ago. At the time, he worked 75 hours a week and 48 Saturdays a year.

He also smoked three packs a day and didn’t fit exercise into his busy schedule, despite a family history of heart disease.

"I was doing a lot of things wrong at the time," he admits. "I ate a lot of restaurant food; smoked heavily; worked a lot of hours; and didn’t get enough rest or exercise. I was 52, a manager in the insurance business, and had not been exercising since I was in school."

In fact the day before his heart attack, a stab of guilt about not exercising prompted the 6-foot, 7-inch Doran to lift weights for the first time in more than a decade.

"So when I started having pain in my back the morning of my heart attack, I blamed it on sore muscles," he says. "I wasn’t feeling well, but I hadn’t missed a day of work in 15 years. I was sitting at my desk and felt as though I was having back spasms. I felt sweaty and queasy. If a co-worker hadn’t insisted on taking me to the hospital, I probably wouldn’t have gone."

A trip to the Genesis Emergency Department led him to the Catheterization Lab and then, a week later, to open-heart surgery for a quadruple bypass. It would be the beginning of a dramatic lifestyle change for Doran.

"A lot of times, it takes a crisis to lead to a change of behavior," he says. "I had tried to quit smoking hundreds of times, but having that tube down my throat made me never want another cigarette again. I had been a three-pack-a-day smoker for at least 25 years."

He also immediately enrolled in Cardiac Rehabilitation at the Genesis Heart Institute. Only 10-20 percent of the 2 million patients a year who experience heart attack or undergo procedures for coronary artery disease participate in cardiac rehabilitation, says the American Heart Association.

The benefits of cardiac rehab

Doran says cardiac rehabilitation keeps him compliant with his exercise. He has progressed to the Genesis Phase IV program at the Bettendorf Family YMCA, where he exercises three times a week. Genesis Medical Center, Davenport, is the only hospital in the region to have four phases of cardiac rehabilitation.

"If I wasn’t in cardiac rehab, I’d be back to my old ways," he says. "I wouldn’t be smoking, but I probably wouldn’t be exercising either. Now, I fit cardiac rehab into my day. It’s scheduled, and every one knows I need that time. It has to be something pretty important for me to miss it."

The Genesis Cardiac Rehab staff has made the most favorable impact on him, he says. "The one thing that I’ve always felt that was really great about Cardiac Rehab is the consistency of the staff," he says. The two nurses that walked me out of the ICU room nine years ago are still there; my main nurse, Nancy Pribyl, was there when and I started and still gives me support in Cardiac Rehab; and I still have the same cardiologist, Dr. Nicolas Shammas. You have a feeling of stability and security.

"Most of all, the staff creates such a positive atmosphere in all of their programs, whatever phase you’re in. They make the program a lot of fun, and that’s why I keep going."

Support from his fellow friends in Cardiac Rehab and call from Pribyl when he has missed class a couple of times keep him compliant as well, he says.

Last Saturday, Doran was among a large team of Genesis heart patients who participated in the Quad Cities Heart Walk. For him, walking with other heart patients to raise money for the American Heart Association is an affirmation of how far he has come in his lifestyle transformation.

"From the bottom of my heart, the culture at Genesis is unlike any other I’ve every experienced at any other hospital," he says. "Everyone there is so positive. I’ve been at Genesis several times – for a quadruple bypass, twice for stents and angioplasty -- and I’ve always been treated like a prince."

Because of the fast response time at Genesis, Doran says he had very little heart damage. Indeed, a heart attack alert system, launched in 2004, has led to heart attack response times that rank among the best in the nation. Genesis’ current record of 17 minutes to open a blocked artery is more than five times faster than the national standard of care.

Doran knows that a patient’s battle with heart disease is far from over after bypass surgery. To stay healthy, it takes a lifetime of adjustments ranging from smoking cessation and cardiac rehabilitation to healthy eating and the right medication.

Today at 61, he’s preparing to participate in his eighth Quad City Times Bix 7 race in July. It’s quite a contrast to his life a decade ago, when he rarely exercised at all.

"The people at Genesis Cardiac Rehabilitation also run a great ship and have done so much for me," he says.

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