Healthy Food, Heart for Farmers Market Manager
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- After suffering a heart attack in 2007, Jim Converse, manager of the Northside Farmers’ Market, underwent quintuple heart bypass surgery at St. Elizabeth Health Center. Last Oct. 17, after setting up for a farmers’ market at St. E’s, Converse suffered a second heart attack.
“It was a busy day setting up tables and at first I thought I overexerted myself or had a light heat stroke,” Converse recalled. “I had a headache and I was sweating. I sat and rested but the symptoms persisted. Then I thought to myself, ‘I think I’m having a heart attack.’”
Not wanting to draw attention to himself, Converse quietly left the first-floor lobby where the market was being held and headed for the emergency department. Within 10 minutes, Dr. Walter Sweeney, HMHP Physician Associates, had examined Converse and confirmed that the 69-year-old manager of the farmers market had another blocked vessel. Ten minutes after that, Converse was in the lab being prepped for a heart catherization.
By the time Pat Rosenthal, Converse’s wife, arrived at the hospital -- one of the vendors at the farmers market had called to tell her that Converse wasn’t feeling well -- Sweeney had inserted a stent into Converse’s blocked artery to open the vessel and restore blood flow. The next day, Converse was up and walking around. “I took it easy for a couple of days but I didn’t miss any farmers markets,” he said.
In the year since, Converse has completed six months of cardiac rehabilitation -- three months under the guidance of health-care professionals at Humility of Mary Health Partners and three months on his own.
He’s also switched to a vegan diet, which means he consumes only plant-based foods -- no meat or dairy -- and lost 15 pounds. Converse hopes that losing weight and eliminating cholesterol from his diet will help maintain the health of his heart health. Cholesterol is in meat and dairy products and can contribute to coronary artery disease, leading to blocked arteries.
In addition to managing the Northside Farmers Market, held Saturdays on the grounds of the First Unitarian Church on the North Side, Converse initiated the HMHP-sponsored monthly farmers markets held in the private dining rooms at St. E’s and on the square in downtown Warren.
Converse says his mission is to make healthful, locally grown fruits and vegetables readily available to everyone, especially inner-city residents who might not have easy access to a full-service grocery store or produce market. Among his most recent efforts is the introduction of a Lake-to-River Market Buying Club, a food cooperative owned by area farmers that offers locally grown organic produce and meat from free-range and grass-fed animals.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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