How did your program get started, Dr. Thomas?
Upon joining the faculty of the School of Health of Loma Linda University, I began an attempt to discover the most effective way to change a person's way of living. It was my desire to help prepare a people with sound body and sound mind to meet Jesus. There must be a way to measure their fitness, to educate them, and to motivate them to follow habits of life that would accomplish this. A fitness testing pro gram seemed to provide opportunity for all three goals.
You must have been in top shape, yourself.
On the contrary. I decided I should be the first subject, and asked a doctor friend to determine my heart's function through the use of an electrocardiogram. He took one look at the graph and said, "Charles, I want you to see a cardiologist! His alarm sent me hurrying to not one, but to three heart specialists only to confirm the fact that my coronary arteries, as revealed by the ECG, were very narrow. My father and my uncle died of coronary artery disease heart attacks. My brother died of rheumatic heart disease. What could I do to prevent an early death, myself?
What did you do?
I decided to accept my condition as a challenge. How could I possibly teach in the School of Health and tell every body else to get their heart and body in shape, and not be an example? My research helped me to realize the need to make a real reformation in my diet and exercise. I quit using sugar, cut down on salt, stopped taking liquids with my meals, and set a specific time to go to sleep at night. I initiated an exercise program that got me walking briskly, chopping wood, or mowing my lawn—with a hand mower—at least a half hour daily, before breakfast.
Has it paid off?
Paid off? Many times over. My electrocardiogram is back to normal. There is no evidence of lack of oxygen even under severe physical stress. I am so grateful to God for what He has done for me and my heart. And I know that what He did for me, He can and will do for others. His way is the happy, healthy way.
When did you first take your testing program into areas away from your headquarters at Loma Linda University?
In 1968, at the camp meeting at Canadian Union College, Alberta, Canada.
How many programs have you con ducted during the past five or six years?
I believe I can safely estimate about 120. Here at the University we now con duct a field testing program each week. We have carried out more than 28,000 tests.
We have been discussing "field testing programs"—just what does this mean?
There are a number of heart problems that don't show up on an ordinary electrocardiogram, good as it is, but that do appear when the heart is put under a moderately severe stress. For instance, the small arteries that supply the heart itself with blood, the coronary arteries, may be so narrowed by cholesterol- containing deposits that only a small fraction of the normal amount of blood can get through. At rest, or even slow walking, this amount of blood may be enough to feed the heart its vital oxygen. But when one is running, or under great emotional or physical stress, more oxygen is required and the heart needs a great deal more blood. The narrowed coronary arteries cannot provide it. The agonizing cry of the suffocating heart is often felt as pain called angina. But even though there may be no pain, the deficiency of oxygen causes certain recognizable change in the ECG called an s-t segment depression (see diagrams at bottom of page).
In the fitness test, we determine from a. person's age, history, and ECG while he is resting, how much load his heart should be able to take. Then, while monitoring his heart's activity, we have him exercise on a treadmill until he has reached this work load, or until his ECG gives evidence that he is unable to work at this level without potential danger to his heart. A heart specialist interprets the ECG. In this way we can discover the beginning of coronary artery disease or even impending heart attack, and can take immediate measures to try to reverse this trend.
But this is not all there is to fitness. We also measure height and weight, skin-fold thickness (excess fat test), blood pressure, vital capacity of the lung, and evaluate the posture. Then an experienced counselor discusses the subject's test results with him, and suggests not only an individualized exercise program but changes in his habits of life that will promote optimum health.
The test results, with a photocopy of the ECG, are sent to his private physician if the individual wishes this service. We are offering a service to supplement, not compete with local physicians.
That really makes sense. But what does the "field" in field testing mean?
Only very few people can come to a center such as ours at the University, where they can get this kind of stress test. So we decided to go where people are, take our team and equipment, and conduct tests there. We have tested church groups, dental conventions, industrial employee groups, city officials, teachers' associations, and other groups, as well as general testing sponsored by civic and religious organizations for interested persons in a geographical area.
Have you found many people with previously unrecognized heart disease?
We have, indeed. More than one in every ten people tested have some ab normality apparent on the stress ECG. Most of these need to make immediate changes in habits of living. About four in every one hundred subjects develop s-t segment depression during the exercise test. These people are, in a special sense, the ones we are eager to identify, because, as a rule, so much can be done to prevent or postpone their having a heart attack.
What other significant things have you learned?
First, one, and in some groups two, of every three subjects is overweight! These, too, are people who can benefit from following suggestions to improve in their fitness and health status.
Second, from 7 to 14 per cent of subjects in several programs are taking tranquilizers.
Third, between 5 and 10 per cent have high blood pressure, even though most of these are taking medicine to lower it. Many of these can be helped a great deal by the changes suggested by the counselor.
Do you think very many people are actually following the suggestions made?
We would, of course, have no way of knowing how many people really follow our advice, or to what extent. We do, however, ask each participant to fill out and return to us a follow-up report in which they indicate changes they have made and results they have noted. This is admittedly a subjective response; we have no means of checking further.
Judging from the numerous testimonies we have received, however, we are convinced that a significant number of people have changed their manner of life, with very encouraging results. Among the many who have gone through our program have been a number of ministers of different denominations. We have had occasion later to re peat the test on these same ministers. We are happy to report that a real change has come in their life-style as their body is shaping up for the better.
If the shepherds take the lead in reaching toward optimum health, will not the sheep follow?
