MARCH 14, 2007

THE CADRE «9

BmeALTH

Come on girls, have a little heart

Nathan Rochford Rochford is a journalism student

at Holland College Jillian Lewis sat at a blood pressure ma-

chine watching the dials turn waiting to see the outcome of her test.

For a 21-year-old nursing student this was routine.

The band around her arm started to loosen, and suddenly, like headlights flashing on, the numbers jumped onto the screen , 140 over 110.

High for a woman her age, she thought. But then again, she’d always remembered having high blood pressure, even as a kid. She figured it was normal and settled back into her chair.

“You should get that checked out,” her instructor said, focusing on the screen. “Go to the clinic.”

Not thinking much of it, she went that night to get checked.

The doctor couldn’t pinpoint anything wrong, but referred her to a specialist just in case.

Three years and a handful of doctors later, Lewis was diagnosed with aortic stenosis, a narrowing of the aortic valve, which causes the heart rate and blood pressure to rise as the heart works harder to pump blood throughout the body.

Lewis, now 28, is one of thousands of Canadian women suffering from car- diovascular disease, a growing concern among physicians across the country.

In 2002, 34 per cent of all female deaths were caused by heart disease, two per cent higher than the total male deaths caused by the same thing.

Susan McConnell, a health promoter for the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foun- dation, attributes the higher death toll to women’s symptoms appearing more vague than men’s.

“Women often have vague chest pains, not the usual heart crushing pain that often a man will have,’ she said.

She also said women struggle with recovery while men recover easier and “Tt’s all to do with their physical

makeup,” she said. “Women’s blood ves-

faster.

sels ate smaller than men’s. There’s not

as much room.”

However, vague symptoms aren’t the only problem for women dealing with heart disease.

Even in today’s society women are the primary homemakers, which means taking time off of work outside of the the home to exercise. Recovering from

a major heart complication can become

University of Ottawa

difficult.

“It’s not like they can just rest and de- cide “Yes’ I’m going to do this,’ McCon- nell said. “It’s hard just being able to take that time for themselves.”

However, not all women have that problem.

Lewis, a mother of one, said there are

a lot of things she can’t do, but she still

Graduate Studies with supporting scholarships

it starts nere.

manages to make time for herself.

“T can’t do a lot of cardio, like run on treadmills, but I can swim and walk,” she said. “Before I thought it was nothing.

It made me more paranoid. You never

know what is going to happen.”

At the University of Ottawa. you will benefit

from unparalleled funding opportunities. Most graduate students receive between $14,000 and $17,000 of annual support.

Many departments offer even more!

ii

HUT

uOttawa

Ranked among the top five research-intensive

universities in Canada.

www.grad.uOttawa.ca 1877 uOttawa 613-562-5700