Scales drive keeps hearts beating

LOCAL cardiac health group Heartbeat Ballarat recently called out for donations of digital body scales with a goal to prevent heart failure emergencies and ease pressure on hospitals.

With the support of individuals across the community, the organisation has received 100 scales to support patients in their network.

Following media coverage one donor gave 23 scales, and when the campaign seemed to halt at about the 60-scale mark, another individual’s single donation of 35 scales helped Heartbeat Ballarat to make their target a reality.

One hundred scales have been delivered to Grampians Health which will be distributed to heart failure patients across the region, to support them with their heart health management in the home.

“Grampians Health only had four scales left from our previous donation, so there was some urgency about it,” Heartbeat Ballarat member Barry Nixon said.

“They generally save heart failure patients from becoming really unwell and prevent re-hospitalisations.”

Heart failure and cardiac rehab nurse practitioner Linda Macaulay thanked the group for what she said was a generous and lifesaving donation.

“So many patients, when they get a new diagnosis of heart failure, find it a really hard thing to hear, because the life expectancy is five years,” she said. “It’s terribly confronting.

“We ask them to do a lot of things when they get diagnosed. They have to attend lots of appointments while they’re not well, so the task of getting their own scales is another thing to do, and another barrier to them looking after themselves.

“If we can supply the scales, with the batteries, it’s one less hurdle they have to jump over to manage their condition.

“If patients are taught how to manage heart failure, and they’re supported, they can go on to live with it for a long time.”

Heart failure patients are encouraged to step on the scales first thing in the morning and weigh themselves as part of continuity of care, and to build their self-confidence.

“When people start to get sick, and get a nasty infection, their heart has to work harder,” Ms Macaulay said.

“Fluid can build up quickly, so if they weigh themselves and notice their weight has gone up, they have time to act before their condition gets bad.”