Best Holiday Gift for Parents with Heart Disease: Health Advocacy

Millions of adult children will get unwelcome news this holiday season: Mom or Dad has been diagnosed heart disease. The best gift you can give your elderly parent, says cardiologist Jerome E. Granato, MD, FACC, is to take an active role in helping him or her through the diagnosis, follow-up tests, treatment decisions, and surgery.

Nearly 62 million Americans have some form of cardiovascular disease. Chances are, one or both of your parents will be one of them, and they will face a daunting array of tests, drugs, surgical options, and lifestyle modifications. "For most people," says Dr. Granato, "the process is daunting. But this is especially true for elderly patients, who often get overwhelmed trying to understand their disease, ask the right questions, remember all their options, and make sound decisions about how to manage their condition."

Dr. Granato says his elderly heart patients who have a strong support system-particularly spouses or adult children who help them make informed choices-are better able to stay positive, tolerate medication side effects, and recover after surgery than those who go it alone.

If your parent is diagnosed with a heart problem, here are eight ways to be an effective health advocate.

1. Partner with your parent's doc. Actively participate in your parent's health care by going to appointments with Mom or Dad. Bring a pen and pad for notes.
2. Be a reader. Get educated on Mom or Dad's condition by reading high-quality, current literature about heart disease and current treatment options.
3. Question authority. If your parent's doctor recommends a string of diagnostic tests, discuss the pros and cons of each test, including whether insurance covers them.
4. Prevent overmedication. Your parent will probably have to take five or six different medications. Ask about benefits, dosage, drug interactions, and side effects.
5. Choose your surgeon well. If you, your parent, and the doctor decide surgery is the right option, find a hospital with a high volume of cardiac surgeries and an experienced surgeon.
6. Maximize the surgery. For the first few weeks after surgery, make sure your parent eats healthfully, takes short, regular walks, keeps surgical incisions dry, does breathing exercises, watches for a persistent cough, and wears support hose.
7. Be a cheerleader. Remind Mom or Dad that heart patients can live a long, healthy life when they lose weight, lower their cholesterol, get regular exercise, and stop smoking. Having a supportive adult child is critical to a parent's success.
8. Help them succeed. If your parent was a junk-food addicted couch potato smoker, help your parent succeed by going grocery shopping with him or her; buying a stationary bike for the TV room; and making health dates (walking, cooking, eating, swimming, dancing) to reinforce positive aspects of healthy living.