Every morning, Whidbey resident Pat Dallen can be found walking along on a treadmill for at least 30 minutes.

It’s a new lease on life and not a New Year’s resolution that brings Dallen to exercise. He’s lucky to be alive. He now does this to help himself stay alive. After all, as with many leases — this one doesn’t come with a guarantee.

It was last fall, Nov. 25 to be exact, that Dallen suffered a slight heart attack at the age of 49.

It didn’t hit Dallen at first that he’d had a heart attack. However, he, like many other Americans, are learning that heart attacks and other cardiac events come in all strengths and symptoms.

“I didn’t have chest pains at all like people describe. It just felt like I was sick to my stomach, I was clammy, my fingertips were numb off and on, and I had a toothache that got really bad,” Dallen said.

Following Nov. 29 quadruple bypass surgery at Providence Medical Center in Everett, Dallen took three weeks to rest at home before he visited Whidbey General Hospital’s Life Center for Essential Wellness.

It was time to make some life changes that could help prevent another heart attack, one that could be fatal.

Life Center evolves

from patient focus

The new Life Center for Essential Wellness came out of the cardiac rehabilitation service, which had branched away from the rest of rehabilitation services, said Life Center staff member Michelle Renninger, a registered nurse who specializes in cardiac care. Doctors and nurses wanted to be able to focus on cardiac patients rather than those who were recovering from other injuries and ailments, Renninger said.

The move also allowed the Life Center to expand its services.

“Cardiac care really is an evolutionary science and still in its infancy,” Renninger said.

The Life Center is staffed by two registered nurses, Renninger and Carla Vier. Exercise physiologist Debi Sevieri works with each patient to find an individual exercise plan to help put them on the path to cardiac wellness. On the pulmonary wellness side is a respiratory therapist, along with Sevieri.

Until recently, Freeland resident Hugh Barr was a patient in the pulmonary wellness program at the Life Center. He is now, however, an alumnus, the program’s first graduate.

Barr suffered congestive heart failure last summer. He was referred by his physician to the WGH pulmonary wellness program.

“They take good care of you there,” Barr said. ” Your blood pressure and heart are checked regularly. “The nurses are very good to you. They really keep you humpin’.”

Sessions are two hours long. Barr described some of his first-hour exercise activities.

“There’s a step machine, and a cross country ski machine,” Barr said. “That was a tough one. The first time, I had to quit after two-and-a-half minutes. But by the end I could do 22 minutes.”

He also exercised on a treadmill and bicycle and trained with weights. There were warmup and cool-down exercises, as well.

The second hour was spent in instruction about foods, medications, lifestyle changes and exercise at home.

“I learned how to read labels on the food you buy in the grocery store,” Barr said.

And now that he’s home, he says, he’s exercising on a Power Master and a bicycle.

“And I’ll be going to Momentum to work on their machines, too,” he said.

Barr took part in the pulmonary wellness program for 15 days over a period of eight weeks.

“You can tell how important this program is by how many people are participating,” Barr said. “The first two classes are full. Doctors should recommend it for all their patients with breathing problems.”

Working for strong hearts

The patients are a part of the renewed focus in the Life Center. Patients exercise next to nursing station areas that monitor their vital statistics.

“We felt driven to work with patients instead of away from them,” Renninger said.

The new name and new setting came during a phase of remodeling at Whidbey General that was completed last year.

Cardiac wellness is a secondary prevention program that educates people about reducing the risk of future cardiac problems through exercise, nutrition and heart health information. Most commonly, people are in the program following a heart attack, open heart surgery or a diagnosis of stable angina (a discomfort that is medically managed instead of surgically treated).

As soon as cardiac wellness patients walk into the center, they know the drill — it has become a fun one for many. They attach their assigned personal cardiac monitor that allows staff to record their heart telemetry and blood pressure while they go through their individual exercise for the day. Measurements are taken first when at rest, then while exercising, and again afterward to see how the patient’s heart responds to the exercise.

After a proper stretch, patients begin their individually designed exercise programs. Using the exercise performance numbers, the Life Center staff can then “loosely relate them to outside activities.”

The staff looks at a combination of factors: age, medications, the patient’s current condition, (post-surgery, heart attack, a pacemaker), and use those to create a target heart rate based on a formula from the American College of Sports Medicine, or an adjusted doctor prescribed target rate.

The monitored exercise is performed within the controlled environment of the Life Center, but it allows the patient and staff to help plan for exercise that can be performed outside of it. It also teaches the patients how to be heart wise: know their limits and target heart rates, recognize how it feels to be within target heart rate, and learn to strengthen their heart.

Regimen and education

During the education component, the “students” learn about various heart terms such as angina, proper nutrition, relaxation, exercise and other heart health education that can help the patient toward cardiac wellness. Patients learn about the medications they must take, how it will affect their bodies, and possible side effects. Whether it’s a designated heart health education time, or just while someone’s climbing along on a step machine, the patients learn how to make heart-healthy choices.

“The foundation is really based on research arenas, because cardiac care is such an evolutionary science and still in its infancy. We then look at each individual patient’s needs,” Renninger said.

The duration a patient must attend the cardiac wellness program varies, with the service tailored for the patient’s individual circumstances and needs. Pat Dallen went to the Life Center three times a week for about a month. He now has regular visits with his physician.

He also continues daily exercise on a treadmill, and he and his wife have a fondness for experimenting with heart-friendly recipes.

Dallen is attempting to slow down a clock that began ticking down with his parents. His father died of a heart attack at the age of 39, and his mother of congestive heart failure at the age of 66.

“I’m learning now that you have to keep up the work or all of this goes to waste,” Dallen said.

Joan Soltys contributed to this story.