ROCK ISLAND, Ill. — UnityPoint Health -Trinity is celebrating four years of its Intensive Cardiac Rehab program, Pritikin, the first of its kind in the region.
"The program is an advanced cardiac nutritional program, where our patients are introduced to a new type of diet," Trinity Rock Island Medical Center's, Dr. Sanjeev Puri said.
This is the first program of its kind in the region and the second in Illinois.
"Not only a new type of diet, but a new type of lifestyle around a new diet, which cuts down the risk of future heart attacks, future strokes and improve their outcomes as far as cardiovascular diseases concerned," Dr. Puri continued.
The program works using three pillars: healthy eating, exercise, and a healthy mindset.
"If they participate in regular exercise more than 30 minutes a day, they can cut down risk of future heart attacks by 20 to 30%," said Dr. Puri. "The third, even more important, is changing their mindset towards a calmer approach, using techniques like mindfulness, meditation."
A recent graduate of the program, Paula Ploen credits her positive mindset to the program.
"I would have seen myself being someone who would stay at home a lot, and be depressed for a while. I would go through that kind of a phase where I think eventually I would have snapped out. But I think I would have tended to really withdraw if I hadn't had the encouragement to do this. So I mean, just a plus to the entire program. It's incredible," said Ploen.
Over the last four years, the program has served over 1,200 cardiac patients.
The hospital will celebrate an official four years on Thursday, April 21st.