What Is Heart Secrets?

A Heart Program for Every Woman

No matter what your age, the Women’s Heart Secrets Program is for you. Heart Secrets is a medical program designed to prevent heart disease before it starts. It will also help you improve your heart health even if you’ve already had a cardiac event.

Who is a candidate for Heart Secrets? Anyone concerned about their heart health. You might be a healthy woman in your 20s, but have a family history of heart disease. You could be 40-something and starting to wonder how menopause will change your body and affect your heart health. Or maybe you're in your 60s and have some current health issues but are eager to know what else you can do to take care of your heart.

If you have any of the risk factors below, take the first step by calling to schedule a Heart Secrets appointment:

• Abnormal cholesterol tests or medication intolerance to lipid-lowering drugs
• Insulin resistance (Metabolic Syndrome or Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome)
• High blood pressure
• Diabetes
• Menopause
• Stress
• Depression
• Physical inactivity
• Poor diet
• Smoking
• Obesity
• Family history of heart disease
  

A Different Approach

Most people seek medical care once a disease or health issue is already present. With Heart Secrets, we’re focused on sharing secrets that will help you make sustainable changes now. We’ll challenge you to think about food, exercise and your heart health in a different way, and will help you discover what truly motivates you to care for yourself.

The Innovative Shared Medical Appointment

Heart Secrets starts with the newest trend in healthcare, the innovative shared medical appointment (SMA). An SMA is a medical appointment that is covered by insurance just as any medical appointment would be. Rather than just a 15 minute appointment, an SMA can last up to 120 minutes. It combines a traditional one-on-one physician visit with a chance to interact with many providers and other women all focused on women’s heart health.

During an SMA:

• You’ll be given a global heart risk assessment and lipid profile to learn your risk factors for heart disease as well as your current heart health.
• You’ll have a traditional one-on-one doctor’s visit to discuss your personal health history.
• You’ll participate in a group session with other women and members of the Heart Secrets team.
• You’ll receive valuable information from the Heart Secrets certified nurse practitioner, dietitian and exercise specialist. This is more than the old “eat right and exercise” speech you’ve heard a dozen times; we are here to change the way you think about diet and exercise forever.
• You’ll leave with a personalized plan of care to help you achieve your best health ever.

You can schedule your SMA today!

With You for Every Step

After your SMA, the Heart Secrets team will follow up with you to answer any questions and encourage you on the road to heart health.

You can stay further connected by joining the online Heart Secrets community. We’ll be in touch regarding the latest news and information on women’s heart health, alert you to new blog entries and make sure you’re the first to know about special Heart Secrets classes and events.

Finally, this website is your 24/7 access to the Women’s Heart Secrets program. With our tracking tools, you can track your eating and exercise, graph your medical results and journal your progress.

Why a Heart Program Just for Women?

For most women, getting their annual gynecologic exam, annual mammogram, and performing regular self breast exams are second nature. These are all important ways to protect your health, but they don’t address the number one killer of women: heart disease.

It’s critical that women give as much attention to their heart health as they do to other aspects of their health. Heart Secrets, which has been in development for over two years at Columbia St. Mary’s, is here to help women take charge of this critical part of their health.

Why the Name, “Heart Secrets”?

While developing our women's heart program, we realized there is a lot that women don't know about their heart health. In fact, it almost seemed as if secrets were being kept from them. We wanted a program that would educate women about these "secrets" as well as be a partner in helping them make necessary, long-term changes to their lifestyle. Hence the name, and our new women's heart program, "Heart Secrets."

Heart Secrets isn’t about keeping secrets – it’s about sharing information with women that will revolutionize the way they think about their heart health. It's about helping women feel the best they ever have.

What are Some of These “Secrets”?

The most important “secret” we’ve already touched on: that heart disease is the number one killer of women. There are many other secrets, though. That waist measurement is actually a better predictor of cardiac disease than weight. That there are revolutionary new ways to think about diet and exercise that can help women make sustainable changes in what they eat and how active they are. That a simple, inexpensive, non-invasive heart scan can let doctors see inside the heart to quickly determine a women's level of atherosclerosis, or blockage in the arteries.

In addition, there are many risk factors for heart disease that most women aren’t aware of. These include stress, depression, menopause and insulin resistance (or Metabolic Syndrome and Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome). Also, heart disease is not just an older woman’s disease. It can affect women of all ages and the choices women make at every age can affect their heart health.

Download Columbia St. Mary's Women's Heart Program Brochure

Download, print or view Columbia St. Mary's Women's Heart Program Brochure here.

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