Sunshine Coast residents get heart healthy close to home

L to R: Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) Parks and Recreation’s Deb Shorthouse, VCH-Coastal Chronic Disease Prevention Coordinator Annelies Ravensbergen, SCRD Parks and Rec’s Phil Sera and local physician Dr. Wadge (not shown)

Thanks to a solid team approach, Sunshine Coast residents now have a local option available to them if they want to take part in a Cardiac Rehabilitation Program, an activity that’s been proven to improve the lives of recovering cardiac patients.

Known as the Happy Hearts Plus program, it’s truly a partnership between the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) Parks and Recreation department, local Chronic Disease Prevention Coordinator Annelies Ravensbergen, local physician Dr. Wadge and staff from VCH’s Regional Cardiac Program.

The program was adapted from one developed by St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver and saves Sunshine Coast residents hours of travel time and ferry costs. The end result? More people from Gibsons and Sechelt are enrolled in the program and they attend more sessions then before when they had to travel to the North Shore.

Physicians refer patients who could benefit from the rehabilitation to Dr. Wadge, who does the stress testing at St. Mary’s Hospital. She conducts several tests before referring patients to Annelies to do the program intake. Participants then take part in a regularly scheduled series of sessions planned and delivered by SCRD Parks and Recreation’s Phil Sera and Annelies. SCRD Parks and Recreation’s Deb Shorthouse helped organize some funding and equipment for the program.

Early in the New Year, Annelies is planning to start up a maintenance program that would be open to anyone who has attended a cardiac rehabilitation program in the past. For more information on the Sunshine Coast Happy Hearts Plus program, contact Annelies Ravensbergen at Annelies.Ravensbergen@vch.ca