t used to be said that only time heals a girl?s broken heart, but one nurse at the Cardiac Care Programme at King Edward VII said it actually takes a lot more than that. According to cardiac care nurse Myrian BaIitian-Dill, it also takes exercise, healthy eating and at least ten thousand footsteps a day to cure a heart broken by disease.

February is Heart Disease Awareness Month, with this year?s special focus on women and heart disease.

Ms Balitian-Dill runs the Cardiac Care programme at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, a programme designed mainly to help people recovering from heart surgery develop healthier lives.

Heart disease is the number one killer of women around the world. In Bermuda four women a week have a heart attack. Unfortunately, only about thirty percent of Bermudian women who have had heart attacks actually take advantage of the Cardiac Care programme.

?There are a few factors that influence that,? said Ms Balitian-Dill. ?It is partly because women are so busy. They also sometimes have the attitude ?I got it, I know what I need to do? so they don?t come in.

?What we want to do with the Bermuda Heart Foundation campaign is to make women aware. Many women are not aware that Heart Disease is the number one killer. The data tells us that women present symptoms ten years later than men, but the problem is we are seeing 40 years olds with heart disease. How do you explain that??

She said with our increasingly desk-bound lives the statistics are only going to get worse. Although women should start having stress tests at age 55, it is never too early to start leading a healthy lifestyle.

?If you are in your thirties, why don?t you start putting more activity in your life right now?? she said. ?Be more conscious of the foods you eat. We are not asking anyone to diet, we are asking people to be more sensible.?

It was when Myrian Balitian-Dill was working as a nurse on a general ward at King Edward VII that she noticed she kept seeing many cardiac care patients being rehospitalised.

?There was nowhere for them to go, so we set up the cardiac care programme,? said Ms Balitian-Dill. ?The programme was set up specifically to help people know what they need to do and move them to goals that will give them their best outcome. We talk about their risk factors, such as blood pressure, family history and weight, among other things. Information is key.?

It is geared for people with heart disease, but doctors will sometimes send patients whom they feel are at risk for a heart attack, or can?t get their blood pressure under control.

Ms Balitian-Dill recommends that people do at least thirty minutes of moderate activity per day. ?If you strapped on a pedometer you?d be surprised at how few footsteps you are walking in a day,? she said. ?That is why we are recommending at least 10,000 steps per day.?

She said that people also have to do the research when they become sick. For example it is important to know that heart disease does not effect everyone the same way.

The symptoms for a woman having a heart attack can be different from a man having one. Blacks can react to medications differently from whites. ?For example, it is harder to treat black people with high blood pressure,? said Ms Balitian-Dill. ?A black person may need two or three different medications to control their blood pressure.

If you take the same black person verses a white person of similar risk factor, it is easier to treat the white counterpart. I am not sure why, but many medications are tested primarily on white males. In drug trials minorities are underrepresented.?

She urged people to question their doctors about whether the recommended medications had been tested on different genders and racial backgrounds.

Ms Balitian-Dill said the Cardiac Care programme is about helping people to take control and get a handle on their disease.

?There is nothing worse than getting sick and not knowing anything about your disease,? she said. ?Then you are expected to ask your doctor stuff, when you don?t know what to ask. So this programme helps them to ask the right questions and take control of their disease.?