Twice a year we award a student the iVein® Health and Wellness Scholarship. Students must write an essay that promotes a practical approach to a healthy lifestyle in college and how these habits can be sustained over a lifetime.

This year’s fall scholarship was awarded to a student from Lasell College in Massachusetts. Here is the winning essay:

The nurse handed me my information packet to take home and written at the top of the paper in bold, capital letters it said, “IF YOU DO NOT TAKE YOUR MEDICATION YOU WILL DIE.” Simple enough, but how did we get here? When I was twelve years old I was unexpectedly diagnosed with life-threatening heart disease and told I needed a heart transplant to live. Obviously this was a life changing moment for our family, and something that would change my life and approach to healthy living forever. I waited 832 days, but in 2014, at the age of 14, I had a successful heart transplant – and I’m not wasting one second with this gift.

My life has been changed in many ways, one of which is my dependency on special medications. They are extremely expensive and cause some unappealing side-effects, but they keep me alive. The human body will always reject foreign tissue, and my new heart is foreign tissue, meaning that my immune system is always trying to attack my new heart. In order to prevent this I take immunosuppressive medications and will take them the rest of my life. That means that I’m extremely susceptible to illness, so I have become quite the germaphobe. I have to be careful what foods I eat, carry a medical mask with me to places like the movie theater, and germ-x is my best friend. If I were to get sick, it would have a far worse impact on me than it would anyone else because; even though it’s done on purpose, my immune system is very weak.

The fact is a heart transplant isn’t a cure, and while I choose not to focus on this, I know that I will likely need another transplant one day. The average lifespan of a transplanted heart is 12-14 years (this was hard to hear as a 12-year-old). My heart transplant and its implications are something I will live with for the rest of my life. That’s why it’s my responsibility to take care of my body and heart, so it can last years and years from now. Many teenage organ recipients tend to struggle with their transitions to college. They have previously relied on their parents to remind them to take their medications every morning and evening. Furthermore, some teenagers even depend on their parents to order their medication and fill their medicine case with the correct doses. Therefore, when they leave for college many students fail to take their medications at all, which, like I said earlier, has dire consequences. Luckily, my parents gave me the responsibility, with their assistance, to handle my medications from an early age. When I was transitioning to college, my doctors requested monthly labs, to ensure I was still taking my medications. My doctor told me, “I don’t think you’ll have any problems, but I’ve been wrong before and I don’t want to be wrong again.” At the end of freshman year my levels had always been consistent and I proved I could be trusted to manage my own medication.

Aside from my medications, it is important that I keep my body physically fit. The “Freshman 15” is real. And being a heart transplant recipient gives me no excuse not to pay attention as much as anyone else. It would be easy to say, “I tire easily… my legs are weak… my body is off today…” and while I may say this occasionally , overall I remember that it’s my duty to keep my heart in the best shape possible. I try to be active and get at least 30 minutes of physical activity each day to protect my heart – I’m obsessed with “closing my rings” and getting my 10,000 steps in on my Apple Watch. This truly isn’t hard as a busy college student running around campus, but during the summer I often hear the ding of my watch, reminding me “It’s time to stand up!” Apps like these are so beneficial for young adults my age, who can get lost for hours scrolling through social media or binge-watching Friends on Netflix. Furthermore, I try to eat healthy, which can be extremely difficult at school. Most dining halls try to provide healthy options, but speaking honestly, sometimes the chicken stir fry (I use the word “chicken” loosely) doesn’t look as appetizing as a hot slice of pepperoni pizza from the snack-bar.

After I received my transplant, I was excited to return to the active, sporty life I had loved before I was diagnosed. Only a year after my transplant I joined high school sports teams, only to realize my body had a long way to go. Unfortunately, I would never be the athlete that I might’ve been. That’s not to say that there aren’t transplant recipients who run marathons – because there are. Everyone has their own story. For me, I do what I can. Instead of running a soccer field or hitting volleyballs, I build my stamina by riding a stationary bike at the school athletic center, lots of walking on campus, and doing simple workouts in my room.

My perspective of health and wellness likely looks different than the average college student. My heart was given to me by a 20-year old girl, whose life was cut short in a car accident. She gave me a second chance and I will honor her by living my life well. You won’t find someone more driven for a healthy lifestyle than I am, because honoring my organ donor is the greatest motivation of all.

Twice a year we award a student the iVein® Health and Wellness Scholarship. Students must write an essay that promotes a practical approach to a healthy lifestyle in college and how these habits can be sustained over a lifetime.

This year’s fall scholarship was awarded to a student from Yale. Here is the winning essay:

APIA, Samoa—In the early heat of the morning rush-hour, a line wraps around the corner
for 10 sene panikeke, small buttered doughnuts donning the check-out lines of markets. A
woman hands her children plastic bags filled with panikeke as they each pop one into their
mouths, wiping streaks of frying oil on their lava lavas. She hands them each a bag of Bongos,
the Pacific’s most popular brand of cheese puffs, for a lunchtime snack and sends them on the
public bus as vendors try the perimeter with bags of chips and soft drinks.

I looked on in confusion. A papaya tree stood tall directly behind me, ripe with its
orange-red fruit. Avocadoes, limes, pineapple, and oranges…I envied this tropical oasis placed
directly before those who preferred canned Vienna sausages or corned beef. Yet, as much as I
tried to search for answers, I began to find an innate similarity between the choices made by the Samoan people and those made by college students.

Why do these food preferences exist? What has caused this epidemiologic transition from
fresh produce to high-fat diets?

These questions formed the crux of my research questions this summer as I traveled to
Samoa as a Wilbur Downs International Research Fellow to investigate the chronic disease
burden in Pacific Islanders. The Pacific faces the highest rates of obesity and diabetes globally,
in which up to 93% of adults are overweight or obese and nearly 47% have diabetes. Lifestyle
changes, nutrient-poor diets, and a lack of physical activity have contributed to significant noncommunicable disease morbidity and mortality. On top of these existing challenges, geographic isolation from the nearest specialty care centers in Hawaii and New Zealand, which are more than 2000 miles away, has created a system where many cannot access proper care. Medical supplies are limited and the cost of diabetic care is unsustainable.

In 2011, the Pacific Islands Forum even issued the statement, “The Pacific is in an NCD crisis.” How did the Pacific get here? What will the chronic disease burden look like 10 years from now?

Traveling to remote villages, I was hoping for an answer that would address the unique challenges of Pacific Islanders. I collected anthropometric measurements, blood pressure, hemoglobin A1C values, and even screened for eye complications. Yet, as much as I expected that these would deliver me the answer I was looking for, it was through conversation with the Samoan people that I gained remarkable insight into the difficulty to achieve healthy living.

“It’s affordable and pre-packaged,” some of the villagers noted. Others commented, “Those with larger stature are viewed as more beautiful, wealthier, …more Western.” And others would note, “We don’t have time to sit down for a long lunch. There is no such thing as ‘lunchtime’ here. You grab what you can and continue to work.”

As I listened to their recounts, I realized that despite traveling across the world, I had uncovered some of the very same tenets that I—and other college students—encounter at home. Affordability, time, and social perception—these three factors weigh heavily in food choice and the ability to live a healthy lifestyle. As a Master of Public Health student, I was familiar with the role that external factors, including cultural norms and social variables, play in the rise of the obesity epidemic in the United States, but did not anticipate the similarity among these variables that exists on a global scale.

I boarded the plane from Samoa to Boston, considering what I had witnessed and what I had discussed with those from some of the most remote villages. I questioned my lifestyle choices as a college-aged female student, acknowledging that affordability, time, and social perception often dictated my food choices while living at college. Pursuing a rigorous curriculum and course-load, I found that many of my peers and myself often allowed healthy food choices to suffer at the expense of attending class, staying in the laboratory until 11:00 pm to finish an experiment, or skipping lunch to attend an organizational meeting.

As a first-generation college student, I experienced the challenge that cost and social perception plays these decisions—between choosing less expensive snacks versus more expensive fruit or vegetable options. Just as Samoans expressed that many of these factors began to control their decisions, I found that I had also fallen victim to these variables.

I was frustrated. I felt that these choices had to be black or white…for myself, for Pacific Islanders, for first-generation or low-income students, and for all college students.

Seeking to address just a few of these healthy lifestyle barriers—affordability, time, and social perception—I approached healthy living with a community I could support and would support each other in turn. As President of A Leg Even, the First-Generation and Low-Income Student Network at Yale, I have worked closely with first-year students encountering the challenges of college-life and how to balance an academic lifestyle with personal health. I have worked with students to obtain PDF versions of textbooks to avoid the cost, to create a community that shares professional clothing for interviews and meetings, and to openly discuss questions related to choices during their first year.

Recognizing the inherent need for earlier guidance and intervention with regards to healthy living, I implemented the first Yale First-Generation Speaker Series, inviting professionals to speak about how they managed their finances as a first-generation or low income college student, and how these relate to healthy living. I witnessed the powerful underlying causes that tied my work with first-year students at Yale and the community of Samoans who generously invited me into their homes and villages, making healthy living far from a narrow but rather a global endeavor.

I have learned to approach public health and community work with the provision that you cannot judge the condition of another without providing equity in resources and the empowerment to sustain them.

Twice a year we award a student the iVein® Health and Wellness Scholarship. Students must write an essay that promotes a practical approach to a healthy lifestyle in college and how these habits can be sustained over a lifetime.

We received many great entries, but there can only be one winner. Here is the winning essay:

Health is Wealth

The year is 2017. Social media fitness experts, diet plans, and “the five secret tips to your best body” are ubiquitous. There are unlimited online tutorials on how to lose weight and get the perfect beach bod, but how about living a healthy lifestyle? Most online health and wellness plans advertise that customers will lose 20 pounds in two months on their revolutionary diet. Or that their secret supplement will make consumers feel more energized and promote weight loss. Then the two months are up the supplement pills are exhausted and people return to eating the same foods as before and anxiously await the next fitness trend. In addition, most workout plans are temporary. They only last around eight weeks and provide a few stagnant workouts and exercises that the individual will rarely revisit. Health and wellness is not merely a sprint to the finish line in a race of who can see the fastest results. Health and wellness is a marathon journey that lasts a lifetime.

My fitness journey began when I was about eleven years old in the 6th grade in my hometown Teaneck, New Jersey. I keenly remember the fear and anxiety that came with being overweight at that age. Taking off my shirt in the gym locker rooms and exposing my overgrown chest and rotund stomach was a terrifying experience. I anxiously surveyed the room for peering eyes before I ducked into a corner to quickly change shirts. I quickly learned to do this out of habit and the other kids that didn’t suffered the consequences. The embarrassment was compounded when I was unable to keep up in my physical education class; barely hanging on to the bar during the flex arm hang with all my peers snickering in amusement. Or being one of the last to cross the finish line whenever we had a race. One time I tried to do the rope climb after I saw a boy reach the top and everyone greeted him with roars of applause. When my classmates saw me approach they whispered under their breath, “he’s too fat to climb it” and walked away because I was to fat to deserve their attention. I couldn’t wrap my feet around the rope. And every overweight middle school student can relate to the dreaded moment in health class when they reach the health and wellness chapter and the students incessantly look around the room to find someone that meets the endomorph body type description.

I decided I finally had enough when in that same health class we encountered was to get fit and be healthy. We read about obvious nutrition tips like eating fruits and vegetables and drinking water and basic exercises like running and jumping rope. Then, of course, the popular good-looking boy that could easily do twenty pushups blurted out “ Isaiah can’t run!” I’ll never forget this moment. His words changed my life forever. They are the single most pivotal reason I am here today. My whole class keeled over in laughter. I couldn’t open my mouth to protest. I couldn’t defend myself. I was paralyzed with the truth.

That was the moment that I decided what was truth and what was a lie. I took control of what was fact and fiction. I began my health and wellness journey doing pushups and sit-ups in my bedroom before I went to sleep. I could only amass about four half pushups and twenty sit-ups in which I could barely get my shoulder blades off the ground. But I persisted. The exercise I did at my home formed the basis for the passion and love I have for fitness today. I began to enjoy playing recreation soccer and basketball and continually asked my mother to sign me up for the next year. As I grew older I became healthier but I was still missing several elements of a healthy lifestyle.

I was still very similar to the majority of Americans. When I wasn’t playing a recreation sport I lived a sedentary lifestyle. Currently in America 20% of the population is considered obese (stateofobesity.org). Technology has largely hindered rather than helped Americas health. People can sit on their couches and watch T.V. for hours at a time. Moreso, streaming services such as Netflix allow people to binge watch whole seasons of shows varying up to 20 episodes in one sitting.

As I entered high school I learned what having a healthy lifestyle is. I no longer binged watched T.V. and I participated in my schools sports; track and cross-country. In addition, I did strength training in the gym to make be a better athlete. Squats and deadlifts gave me leg power and core stability; clean and presses made me explosive; Pushups and pull-ups gave me the upper body stretch to generate force and run faster; and abdominal workouts gave me the core strength to finish the last 100 meters of a race as fast as I could. I improved my nutrition by avoiding greasy foods, eating healthier, and drinking more water. For example I dilute sports drinks with water because of their high sugar content.

As I enter into college I am implementing these healthy habits into a concrete routine of health and wellness. I have a schedule of varied workouts like basketball, high intensity interval cardio, heavy weight lifting, body weight drills, running, swimming etc. Furthermore I am improving my healthy lifestyle in college. Actively abstaining from drugs and alcohol that inhibit motor abilities is tantamount to a healthy life. Furthermore I get approximately eight hours of sleep, an often overlooked but necessary part of health and wellness that is crucial to mental and emotional health. Meditation is also a good way of alleviating mental and emotional stress that can lead to overeating. Fitness should be a permanent routine woven into the fabric if one’s life and maintaining a healthy lifestyle requires resilience dedication and devotion, things that don’t come easy, but the benefits are life changing.

Twice a year we award two students our iVein Health and Wellness Scholarship. Students must write an essay that promotes a practical approach to a healthy lifestyle in college and how these habits can be sustained over a lifetime.

We received many great entries, but there can only be one winner. Here is the winning essay:

A bowl of trail mix – a curated mixture of almonds, walnuts, dried apricots and dark
chocolate morsels – sits beside me as I write. I wonder if I will be denied this
scholarship because of the last chocolate chip I munched. But that chocolate chip
keeps me going. By giving myself choice, living a healthy life has become a way of life.

Sustaining a healthy lifestyle has never been easy for me. When I first began college,
I mindlessly enjoyed the unlimited ice cream and chocolate chip waffles on Saturday
mornings. I had days when ice cream on top of my waffles made for a classic pickme-
up morning feast. I eventually realized, however, that this meal had the exact
opposite effect of a “pick-me-up”. I felt lethargic and tired. I was first surprised and
then became depressed once my jeans became a little too snug. Like many college
students, I bounced between extensive varieties of diets. The 1200-calorie days. Fatfree
foods. Zero-carb diet. The ketogenic approach. Many of these diets were great for
a few days, even weeks. Then, I’d get a sniff of fresh chocolate chip cookies or a
grilled cheese sandwich. Sometimes, it would simply be a carton of full-fat yogurt.
When I’d have one of these “cheat” bites, my entire day of dieting would crumble
apart and I’d resort to overeating, perhaps it was even binge eating. I would not be
able to concentrate on school or immediate assignments. Rather, I’d take the day off
while eating all the sinful foods I had restrained from myself. There were days I
would eat until my stomach hurt. There were nights I hated my body and myself. I
would feel useless and simply go to sleep. The next day, the diet would start again.
To overcompensate, I’d go half a day without eating. Needless to say, I never lost a
sustainable amount of weight during this period of dieting. More importantly, I was
unhappy, unproductive and very unhealthy.

A year later, I began studying for the MCAT – a crucial time for any premedical
student. While studying for the exam, my days were jam-packed with study sessions
and summer school so I didn’t have much time to think about my diet. I fell into a
rhythm of waking up early each morning and eating four home-cooked meals
everyday. Every evening, I would go to the gym so I could energize myself without
the need for caffeine. I slept by midnight everyday and made sure to get 8 hours of
sleep. Studying for the MCAT was like training for a marathon; I didn’t want to cram
and made sure I had ample energy to study diligently for the entire summer.
Suddenly, it wasn’t so hard to eat healthy on a regular basis. No urgent cravings and
no binge eating. With the exam only weeks away, food was not the center of my
attention.

Today, I am twenty pounds lighter than my first year of college. I am mindful of what
I eat and how much I eat. However, I hold myself to no restrictions. A philosophy of
healthy living as a lifestyle allows me to enjoy day by day. I’ve learned to forgive
myself and celebrate milestones. These changes have brought me ample more
happiness and pride than my weight loss.

As a medical student, I have the great pleasure to learn from physicians who value
the art of medicine as much as the science behind it. One physician in particular is
Dr. Sheffield, an endocrinologist at Kaiser Permanente. During a lecture on obesity,
he asked us, “Which two specialties in medicine express the most compassion?”
According to a survey, the answer was oncology and pediatrics. His rationale behind
the answer was that both of these specialties have something special in common;
oncologists and pediatricians never blame the patient for his or her disease. Then,
Dr. Sheffield asked us to consider the following hypothetical situation: “It’s 2 AM,
and you’re the physician on call. An obese, diabetic man just suffered a heart attack
from exacerbated atherosclerosis.” He wondered how many of us would blame the
patient, “if only the patient watched what he ate”. He urged us to think like an
oncologist or pediatrician and be more compassionate towards our patients.

I think back to my difficult and ongoing journey towards maintaining a healthy
lifestyle. I will never blame my patient for his or her inability to sustain a nutritious
diet. I have learned from my personal and academic experiences that healthy living
is really a challenge of a lifetime. I strive to eat mindfully, exercise frequently, sleep
well and perhaps most importantly – forgive myself. Eating well and losing weight is
hard. Maintaining healthy habits to be sustained over a lifetime is even more
difficult. I have realized that I will not lose weight in a day, nor will I gain it
overnight. The best and most practical approach is to forgive myself and move on
with the day. No day should be wasted because of a chocolate chip cookie.

Athletes focus on improving running times or golf scores, but most people don’t think about their bodies’ health until they feel actual pain.

Who, Me?
Hosted by IVC (IVC), the Athletic Free Vein Screening Event reaches out to a wider group of people—athletes and men—who may not think circulation health applies to them. Can’t you just hear the comments? “Vein disease? No way! I’m a guy, I’m in my twenties, and I’m in great shape.” “Sure, my legs feel tired the day after a hard workout, but that’s normal, right?” “Varicose veins are for older ladies who’ve had lots of kids…”

Vein disease, or Venous Insufficiency, is one of those silent health issues which creep up unnoticed. Early symptoms may be so general that people think their leg aches or throbbing feet are caused by something else. Common vein disease signs include soreness, tiredness, itchy skin, restless legs, or trouble sleeping.

Lingering aches and pains after a day on your feet may be trying to tell you something, whether running a 10K or chasing your children around Disneyland. Finding out you have vein disease can come as a shock. While supporting his wife at this year’s Athletic Event, one man thought, “I’m already here—I might as well try this, too.” Assuming that his recurring leg problems stemmed from a lower-back injury, this man was surprised to learn that vein disease was also contributing to his leg pain.

Free Screening – Find out if you’ve got it
The Free Screening itself is fast, easy, and painless. A quick ultrasound swipe down both legs, from mid-thigh to ankle, is all it takes. If signs of vein disease show up, you can speak with IVC’s interventional radiologists, MDs with years of additional training focused on the delicate microsurgery of vein treatment. You don’t want a PA or nurse practitioner performing your procedure; you want the actual MD who specializes in vein disease care.

Compression Socks – not just for Grandma, anymore
The good news? Vein disease is treatable! The first step, both in medical care and to qualify for health insurance coverage, is wearing prescription-strength compression socks. These are NOT your grandmother’s suntan-brown type of stockings. Modern compression socks come in a rainbow of cool colors and styles—think Kevin Durrant or Usain Bolt. Elite athletes wear compression socks to enhance circulation and speed up the return of blood to the heart, a key to high performance and quicker recovery times after a workout.

Start with a Free Screening by professionals who know what they’re doing. Add compression socks—pharmaceutical-strength with a written medical prescription to start the paperwork for your insurance coverage—and see how much better you can feel. After all, what’s manly about avoidable suffering? Get back to the sports, activities, and adventures you love. Get back to your life. Guess life really does start when the pain stops…

Thank you to the readers of Utah Valley Magazine for voting us as 2015’s  best vein treatment!

It is an especially rewarding experience helping people be more and feel more healthy. Thank you for allowing us to care for you legs and we will strive to continue to deliver the best quality care and experience around.

Thank you again Utah Valley!