It’s common knowledge that exercise is good for you. It’s also common knowledge that getting a moderate amount of exercise can create drastic positive changes in one’s body in treating ailments such as diabetes and heart disease. However, not so many people know that exercise can be used as medicine to treat many other common ailments. Depression? Anxiety? What about cancer?
Exercise is Medicine (EIM), a global health initiative founded by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), aims to make exercise a regular item patients see on their prescriptions. And that program can be found right here in New Albany.
“We want people to think of exercise and movement as getting a prescription, just like a physician would be writing a prescription for anything else,” says Jodi Kuri, associate director for The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center’s sports medicine team at the Philip Heit Center for Healthy New Albany. “We want to have a culture that translates to … ‘How can I work on this myself, and take ownership of my own health care?’”
The Heit Center has teamed up with EIM. Heit Center affiliates, such as Kuri and Healthy New Albany Inc. founder Phil Heit, represented New Albany in an EIM conference from May 30-June 1 of this year. What Heit and Kuri realized at that conference should surprise no one.
“We offer a higher level of commitment to our members and anyone who’s in our EIM program than I’ve seen nationwide,” Kuri says. “Nobody’s really doing it like we are, and I’m really proud of our program.”
That’s because the Heit Center not only houses an exercise facility with individualized workout plans on the first floor, it offers physical therapy and physicians’ offices on the second floor. When a patient visits OSU at the Heit Center, his or her physician is able to communicate with both a physical therapist and fitness specialist, and vice versa. That way, the patient is getting the best care from all angles. And if a patient has certain road bumps in his or her history, such as diabetes or a cardiac event, all three corners are working together to get the patient fighting fit again.
“We want to take down the barriers with physicians,” says Kuri. “No matter who (physicians) refer, we’ll make sure they’re in the right place, even if it’s not with us. We’ll make sure your patients are well taken care of.”
Though not all locations in central Ohio have partnered with EIM as Healthy New Albany Inc. has, there has been a major push toward using physical fitness to treat – and sometimes cure – certain diseases. The McConnell Heart Health Center is just one of those locations.
“I meet people on a regular basis that started in our cardiac rehab program 14 or 15 years ago, and they stayed as members,” says Dr. Mike Hyek, senior director of the center. “When you have a conversation with them, they are adamant that the program changed their life. They have fewer re-admissions, they have fewer secondary events. Their lifestyle success is much better.”
Like the Heit Center, the McConnell offers programs for specific ailments such as cancer wellness, cardiac rehab and a pulmonary program. However, a patient must be referred to a program by a physician following an event such as a heart attack, and once the program ends, the patient can sign up as a member at the center. The best part is, exercising benefits not only physical health, but mental health, too.
“When you look at the treatment of depression, many times the research shows that exercise is more beneficial than the medicine is,” says Hyek. “It’s not just that we’re lowering your risk of heart disease by lowering your blood pressure and making you lose weight; there’s the mental and psychological component as well.”
Mount Carmel Health’s Dr. Jacqueline McGowan has also seen her patients improve dramatically thanks to physical activity.
“I’ve had diabetic patients who can get off their medicine because they’re incorporating diet and exercise into their routine,” says McGowan. “(With) my arthritis patients, teaching them exercises that can help stabilize the joint to further improve the way that joint functions … prevents further issues down the road.”
“I meet people on a regular basis that started in our cardiac rehab program 14 or 15 years ago, and they stayed as members,” says Dr. Mike Hyek, senior director of the center. “When you have a conversation with them, they are adamant that the program changed their life. They have fewer re-admissions, they have fewer secondary events. Their lifestyle success is much better.”
A major component for McGowan is to ensure her patients do what’s best for them, meaning each patient pushes him or herself just enough, but not so hard that he or she will cause another injury or burn out.
“At the end of it, whether you’re able to run five miles or only able to walk five blocks, being able to push yourself really does have a positive impact on people’s mental health,” says McGowan.
Central Ohio is undoubtedly an area whose residents are prioritizing health more and more. With the Heit Center, the New Albany Walking Classic and the city of New Albany’s commitment to health, the ACSM’s partnership with Healthy New Albany Inc. was a no-brainer.
“We felt that there were many collaborative initiatives that we and the American College of Sports Medicine could work together on,” says Heit. “What we’re trying to do is promote and facilitate health community-wide, but it’s starting here.”
Between collaborations with dietitians, physicians, exercise physiologists and physical therapists, everything the Heit Center offers its members is made available due to strong partnerships.
“Our EIM members also have access to programmatic things through Healthy New Albany,” says Kuri. “We definitely set goals with our members. ‘Hey, how do we work on this together?’ It’s an individualized collaboration to get them to where they want to be.”
Amanda DePerro is an assistant editor. Feedback welcome at adeperro@cityscenemediagroup.com.
