Old Farnhamians'
Association
2007 Farnham Lecture
Cardiac Rehabilitation
by
29 November, 2008
On a very cold October evening, a smaller than usual audience listened
to the twentieth Farnham Lecture, given by one of the
pioneers in cardiac rehabilitation. Dr. Hugh Bethell
is the founder of the Rehab unit at
He moved on to the many reasons for this escalation and these included
heredity, obesity, lack of exercise, stress, high cholesterol and general
lifestyle. All of these could cause a breakdown in the functions of the heart
and would result in a coronary attack of minor or major strength. Diagrams and
photos were shown of the hearts of victims and one could see clearly the
different types of problems that occur.
Today there are several methods of repairing the body after an attack
and Dr. Bethell went into some detail about the use
of by-passes, whether single, double, triple or quadruple, and the recent
increase in the use of stents. All of these have to be followed by an exercise
regime to insure that the patient remains fit and the blood in the body
continues to flow properly.
The speaker said that in the past heart problems were dealt with by
molly-coddling the patient, and it was not until the 1950s that ideas began to
change and it was realised that it was necessary to
work this important organ to regain and maintain fitness. In the early 1970s he
worked with the then manager of Alton Sports Centre on a series of fitness
sessions and began to offer the service to local people. Initially they only
took in people who had already suffered a heart attack and began by monitoring
them on either a treadmill or a bicycle to assess their levels of fitness. The
patient was then given a programme of exercises to
follow on a regular basis and monitored to see how the levels of fitness
improved and how the heart itself improved. This scheme proved highly
successful and soon the expanded the type of patients to those with angina,
high blood pressure etc.
By the early 1990s the throughput of patients was such that the Sports
Centre could not cope and it was necessary to have a purpose built building for
the Rehab Centre. There would be no local or government help and it took four
years to fund-raise the money to build the unit that exists today. Gradually, an experienced staff was built and now the centre takes in
over five hundred new patients every year and runs more than one thousand
sessions each week. Hugh Bethell has retired from
running the centre, but is still involved in overseeing progress of this
revolutionary method of treating such a delicate organ of the body. He is now
Chairman of the British Cardiac Rehabilitation Association and his methods are
used nationally as well as abroad. He recently received an MBE for his work.
This was a thought provoking lecture by a man who made a difference to
the lifestyle of many people in this country and especially in this area.