Northern Hearts
1165 Barton St P7B5N3 Thunder Bay, ON, Canada

This year we must celebrate our Moms safely and in compliance with the emergency orders in place. It’s time to get creative! Here are some ideas: Drop-off a ...special homemade gift. Connect virtually or by phone. Cook or pick-up and deliver a meal and then eat together virtually. Make some big Mother’s Day signs or giant cards and share them from a distance. How did you celebrate your Mom safely today?

It is Heart Failure Awareness Week! As the impact of heart failure (HF) continues to grow across Canada and throughout the world, it is becoming increasingly important in raising awareness among patients and their families. The Canadian Heart Failure Society's mission is to improve the care of patients through research, advocacy, education, and development of best practices in the field of heart failure disorders.... Some recommendations include knowing the symptoms and your level of risk. For example, focusing on self-management and self-care, especially in the virtual world we live in right now, is extremely important. https://heartfailure.ca/

The Canadian Mental Health Association has declared May 3rd-9th Canadian Mental Health Week! These are times of extreme anxiety and isolation, so feeling worried and lonely just makes sense. Good mental health doesn’t mean feeling happy all the time. "This Mental Health Week, let’s name, express and deal with our emotions even the uncomfortable ones. Because heavy feelings lighten when you put them into words.... Embrace all of your emotionswhether they feel good or challenging or difficult. It’s all part of being human. This weekand every week afterdon’t go uncomfortably numb. #GetReal about how you feel. And name it, don’t numb it." Some ways to get involved this week is spreading the word, learn and embrace how you feel, and donate to support CMHA health programs, advocacy, and resources. https://mentalhealthweek.ca/

Curious how Canada is doing regarding our hospitalization data for heart and stroke diseases? Between 2007 and 2016, standard hospitalization rates in Canada declined for coronary artery and vascular disease by almost 27.4% and heart rhythm disorders declined by 16.8% with a small decrease for stroke and heart failure. This is great news!! Contributing factors included increased multidisciplinary outpatient management, improved treatments and reductions of some medical risk...s factors such as high blood pressure and cholesterol levels. This means that the general population is starting to take care of lifestyle risk factors such as decreasing smoking rates, increasing healthy diets, and more people becoming physical active! Check out the link below on more details of this study https://www.elsevier.com//good-news-and-bad-news-changing-

Now that the weather is getting colder, comfort food will sure be in our sights as we hunker down for the winter! Some comfort foods can be high in sodium, trans fats, and excess cholesterol. However, there are some heart healthy options to try this winter including these delicious soup recipes aimed to help decrease the incidence of heart disease while still enjoying some yummy food! http://davidbernsteinmd.com/recipe/heart-healthy/

Happy Friday! We have been surprised again with some nice warmer weather for the weekend! This sunshine is a perfect opportunity to get outside and boost your heart health while also getting a dose of vitamin D! The American Heart Association says you can prevent heart disease at any age and we want to help share how!... For all ages they recommend: Choosing a healthy eating plan with foods low in saturated fat, trans fat, and sodium and being physical active for 150 minutes a week. Furthermore, the article has broken up recommendations per age group, so you can easily find your age and use their tips as a guide to a healthy heart and a healthy life! https://www.heart.org//how-to-help-prevent-heart-disease-a

Happy Halloween!

Has everyone heard that the Underground Gym may have finally found a new home? The underground gym and youth centre provides FREE ACCESS to multiple activities & meals for youth in need, 4 to 17+ years (co-ed), and is dedicated to promoting and teaching fitness, healthy lifestyles, self-confidence, and self-respect. Peter Panetta, the founder, and operator of the Underground Gym, has had to move locations following a devastating fire that took place in an adjacent building la...st year. In order to move to this new location, there is a charitable goal of $90,000, and so far, $67,000 has been raised. Due to the goal surrounding healthy and active lifestyles, Northern Hearts would like to bring attention to the need for this money in order to help our children in need within Thunder Bay, any little bit helps! Donations can be made by e-transfer to [email protected] or by cheque, sent to 634 Simpson St., Thunder Bay, P7C 3J7. There are links provided such as the website and some recent news articles about the gym for more information. http://www.undergroundgym.ca/ https://www.tbnewswatch.com//school-donates-2000-to-underg https://www.tbnewswatch.com//underground-gym-finds-new-loc