Free heart failure education opens

BRIDGTON — Bridgton Hospital will offer a series of free public educational programs entitled "Pump It Up," a series focusing on heart failure, starting Thursday, February 28, and continuing March 7 and 14.

The free series of classes will run from 3 to 5 p.m. in the Bridgton Hospital Physician Group Conference Room, conveniently located in the former hospital building on Hospital Drive. June Inman, RN and Nancy Murphy, RN, both nursing members of the Bridgton Hospital (ICU) Intensive Care Unit, will host the program.

Heart failure is a condition in which the heart can no longer pump enough blood to the rest of the body. Symptoms of heart failure often begin slowly. At first, they may only occur when you are very active.

Over time, you may notice breathing problems and other symptoms even when you are resting. Heart failure symptoms may also begin suddenly; for example, after a heart attack or other heart problem.

Common symptoms are cough, fatigue, weakness, faintness, loss of appetite, need to urinate at night, pulse that feels fast or irregular, or a sensation of feeling the heart beat (palpitations), shortness of breath when you are active or after you lie down, swollen (enlarged) liver or abdomen, swollen feet and ankles, waking up from sleep after a couple of hours due to shortness of breath, and weight gain.

"Pump It Up" topics covered on February 28 will include Diagnosis and Treatment of Heart Failure with Alan Langburd, M.D., cardiologist from Central Maine Heart and Vascular Institute.

The March 7 program will be Medication and Heart Failure, Respiratory Health, and Prescription Assistance. The sessions will be presented by Gloria Morris, Respiratory Therapist and Karen Mentus, Prescription Assistance Program.

The series concludes March 14 with Diet and Your Heart Health, presented by Linda Russell, Registered/Licensed Dietitian, Exercise and Activity Tolerance with members of the Physical Therapy Department.

For questions about this free series on living with heart failure, please contact June Inman or Nancy Murphy at 647-6050. Pre-registration is not required but is helpful.