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Heart
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• Set goals and priorities. Decide what must get done now and what can wait. Learn to say ‘no’ to new tasks if you start to feel like you’re taking on too much. Try to be mindful of what you have accomplished at the end of the day, not what you have been unable to do.
• Stay connected. You are not alone. Keep in touch with people who can provide emotional support and practical help. To reduce stress, ask for help from friends, family, or the community of religious organizations.
“Don’t let stress overtake you,” Lotfi said. “If you are feeling overwhelmed, talk to your healthcare provider, who can discuss treatments that can help ease your stress and help to keep you out of the cardiolo- gist’s office.”
Know the Risk Factors
Baystate physicians note that seeing a
Colleges
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and then go to nursing school. On top of that, many have families and are trying to manage schooling for their kids. All together, it just becomes too much.”
When students expressed anxiety about clinical rotations during the pandemic, Rousseau reminded them how clinical placements are a choice the individual makes in order to progress. One option is to delay graduation until they can complete their clinical practice hours. But, after conversations with reluctant students, Rousseau said many end up pursuing their clinical placement.
“We are all healthcare providers, so
we learn how to protect our patients and ourselves, even when we are confronting a communicable disease,” she added.
Still, there’s nothing like a pandemic to suddenly make book learning more
primary-care provider regularly can also help to prevent chronic illnesses such as heart disease.
“When detected early, heart disease is much easier to treat. So it is important to talk with your doctor or advanced practi- tioner about new symptoms that you are having,” said Dr. Stephanie Silverman of Baystate Family Medicine – Northampton. “If you don’t already have a primary-care provider, this is a good time to find one.”
A doctor or advanced practitioner can help identify and manage risk factors for heart disease by partnering with the patient to create a wellness and prevention plan.
“The good news is that you can signifi- cantly reduce your risk of heart disease by leading a healthy lifestyle,” Silverman said. “However, there are some risk factors that cannot be changed, such as increasing age, ethnic group, gender — men have a greater risk of heart attack than women — and having close family members with heart disease. People whose parents have heart disease are at greater risk for developing it themselves.”
Silverman noted that several health
relevant. Rousseau said community-health course topics on infection control and the pandemic from 100 years ago took on new significance with students.
“Of course, we talked about how we’re living through a pandemic right now,” she noted. “All these topics that we used to look at from a historical perspective really apply today.”
The next historic step in fighting the coronavirus involves vaccinating millions of Americans. Local students have begun playing a role in this important effort. Fugiel said STCC is getting involved with several community locations, as well as its practice partners.
“We’ve suggested having students give the vaccine to each other,” she said. “This way, they can practice giving the shot and can help the clinical facility give vaccina- tions to their staff, so everyone wins.”
Nursing students from AIC were in- volved with contact tracing earlier to help local public-health organizations. Rousseau
conditions can increase one’s risk of heart disease. About half of all Americans have at least one of three key risk factors: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes.
According to the National Diabetes Statistics Report, the risk of death from heart disease is higher for adults who have diabetes than those who don’t. Diabetes causes sugar to build up in the blood, which damages the inner linings of both large and small arteries.
Another serious risk factor is high blood pressure, when the pressure of the blood in the arteries is too high.
Also, unhealthy blood-cholesterol levels can contribute to heart disease. Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance made by the liver and found in certain foods, which can build up in the walls of the arteries. It can then lead to a narrowing of those arteries and decrease the blood flow to the heart.
Obesity, or excess body fat (especially around the waist) can lead to heart disease, even if other risk factors are not pres-
ent. Obesity can also contribute to the development of high blood pressure, high
sees mass vaccinations as an opportunity for public-health students to make a similar contribution.
“There is a processing piece that has to occur with the vaccination,” she said. “Our public-health students may be able to help with that piece and allow them to be part of the solution.”
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, Rous- seau said, the general population looks at public-health leaders differently. “Look
at how people hang on every word when someone like Dr. Anthony Fauci speaks. I think this could lead to increased enroll- ments in public-health areas.”
While the long-term effects of COVID-19 are still unknown, some early findings suggest many people will need treatment in a home-care setting. According to Brandt, this could mean a boost in allied healthcare jobs such as dieticians, occupational thera- pists, and others.
“There are solid opportunities for people who are not ready to take on the rigorous
cholesterol, and diabetes, all risk factors for heart disease.
“All of these risk factors — high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and obesity — that can lead to heart disease can be prevented or treated with medications or lifestyle changes,” Silverman said. “Part of what we do in primary care is to work with you to help you to minimize these risks and stay as healthy as possible.”
Other major risk factors that contribute to heart disease include smoking, physical inactivity, alcohol, an unhealthy diet, and stress. Smoking, alcohol, and stress can raise blood pressure. An unhealthy diet of saturated fats and foods high in sodium and added sugars can also raise blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Not getting enough physical exercise can lead to obe- sity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes.
“Your primary-care doctor or advanced practitioner can help you to make lifestyle changes to address these behaviors and set you on a path to a healthier you by reduc- ing your risk of heart disease,” Silverman said. v
demands of nursing school,” Brandt said. “We are seeing people choose shorter-term certificate programs like medical assistant or phlebotomy, which are good jobs that are also needed.”
Opportunity Knocks
Despite the added stress and disrup- tion, Aliengena believes the pandemic has opened a gateway of unique opportunities for both students and faculty.
“Students who might have been hesitant to take an online course or a blended platform course were kind of thrown into the opportunity,” she said. “It also opened minds for faculty members regarding online learning and how to use different technologies to provide new types of clini- cal experiences.”
While the stress level has eased some- what as clinical access has improved, Brandt added, “we are still dealing with unprecedented times.” v
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