(29 Aug 2017) STEP BY STEP … MILE BY MILE.
THESE SENIORS ARE HELPING SCIENTISTS PROVE A SIMPLE CONCEPT.
TREADMILLS CAN BE GOOD MEDICINE.
SOUNDBITE (English): Rita Driscoll, patient, Minneapolis (sot covered with video of Driscoll)
"It hurt from my calf to my hip."
SOUNDBITE (English): Zella Coleman, patient, Chicago (sot covered with video of Coleman)
"The pain was just excruciating."
SOUNDBITE (English): Ivan Dixon, patient, Chicago (sot covered with video of Dixon)
"So many things I can't do."
THE CONDITION IS CALLED PERIPHERAL ARTERY DISEASE. 8 MILLION AMERICANS HAVE IT. RISK INCREASES AS YOU AGE.
SOUNDBITE (English): Dr. Mary McDermott, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago
"Peripheral artery disease is a blockage of the arteries that supply the legs. And patients who have peripheral artery disease tend to have difficulty walking. They often get pain in their calf muscles or they can feel tightness or a burning or even weakness."
NATS Rita Driscoll on treadmill: "So I do it 8 minutes. And then I rest a couple."
EACH YEAR, MEDICARE SPENDS NEARLY $4 BILLION ON SURGERIES AND INTERVENTIONS TO TREAT P-A-D. NOW MEDICARE HAS DECIDED TO COVER SUPERVISED EXERCISE THERAPY.
SOUNDBITE (English): Dr. Mary McDermott, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago
"Supervised treadmill exercise is exercise on a treadmill that takes place in a hospital-based setting or in just a supervised setting where an exercise physiologist or another trained professional is with the patient while they're doing their treadmill exercise. It's one of the few therapies that is effective and suddenly it will increase access of patients to this effective therapy."
FOR ZELLA COLEMAN IN CHICAGO, THAT'S GOOD NEWS AND MOTIVATION.
SOUNDBITE (English) Zella Coleman, patient, Chicago: "You know there is life at the end of this. I can get back to the things that I used to do. And I know it's going to better. But you have to push yourself. You have to want to do better in order to do better."
MEDICARE … NOW HELPING P-A-D PATIENTS AS THEY STRIDE TOWARD BETTER HEALTH.
CARLA JOHNSON … ASSOCIATED PRESS

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