CHP: How to Love Your Heart, for Heart Month

Submitted by Jonna Gaberman, MD Print Story | Email Story
Dr. Jonna Gaberman is CHP Berkshires Director of Adult Medicine and primary care physician at CHP Neighborhood Health Center in Pittsfield.
It's National Heart Month, so now is a good time to give some TLC to your body's most important muscle. Prevention is always the first step in keeping your heart healthy, but you can also make changes to address any existing heart conditions. 
 
Key risk factors impacting the heart include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and smoking, including second-hand smoke exposure. 
 
What are some meaningful changes you can make to care for your heart? First, have a basic heart health screening with your primary care provider or with CHP Mobile Health. This will include a blood pressure check and screening for high cholesterol and diabetes.  
 
If your blood pressure is elevated, set a goal to lower your salt intake to under 2,000 mg per day, and take care to read labels of soups and other foods for sodium content. Eating more fruits and vegetables, and getting more physical activity will help, too. You can also help your heart by eliminating or reducing alcohol use, as alcohol can contribute to elevated blood pressure and abnormal heart rhythm.  
 
Diabetes screening is typically done with an A1C blood test, which indicates your blood sugar level over the past three months. If the result suggests a risk of diabetes, it's time to make some changes in your diet and exercise routine. Focus on whole grains, veggies, fruits, beans, nuts, lean proteins like fish and chicken, and healthy fats. 
 
If you don't have regular time to exercise, try parking further away from your destination and walking more, or take the stairs more often at work. Any amount of physical activity is good, so, when possible, take a walk, a bike ride, go on a hike, or take a yoga class. Find a friend, family member, or colleague to join you and choose an activity that you enjoy. If you are a CHP patient and need a hand getting started, ask for a referral to our CHP Nutrition team. 
 
If you are a smoker, talk to your PCP about different medications and strategies to help you to kick the habit, because smoking – and second-hand smoke – can also raise the risk of heart problems. There are many tools to help you quit, and the more often you try to stop, the more likely you will succeed.  
 
Taking care of your heart health will impact your overall wellness and your mood. As always, check in with your CHP primary care provider. We are here to help. 
 
 

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Pryor & Peacock's Whimsical Furniture Environmentally Friendly

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
 

The company uses digital printing to create the upholstery fabric, saving water and saving vintage furniture from ending up in landfills.

STOCKBRIDGE, Mass. — A unique furniture store has popped up on Elm Street this month.

Mom-and-daughter store Pryor & Peacock is hosting the pop-up storefront from Aug. 13 to Aug. 25 at 6 Elm. The New Marlborough business is co-founded by Rosalina Wright and Luca Shapiro, who is also the creative director. 

Their online shop was created in 2024 but they wanted people to see the pieces in person, so they're renting the space for a limited time before a long-term tenant moves in.

The store sources prints to create unique fabrics and reimagines vintage and antique furniture acquired at auctions, local shops, and online.

"We source prints from all over the world that date from the late 1600s up through mid-20th century, and Luca turns those prints into fabric by manipulating them, scanning them, oftentimes has to add or subtract things, and then we manufacture the fabric using only digital printing, which is very environmentally friendly, unlike traditional textile printing," Wright said.

Upholstering the furniture can take weeks of work. Shapiro looks for the perfect design for each piece and, if need be, uses Adobe Photoshop to extend the art work to fit or enhance the print.

"One of the most difficult parts comes in marrying the fabric to a piece of furniture because we only use antique and vintage frames also to be earth friendly, and they're also more beautiful and durable than new furniture," Wright said. "So the image has to go with the furniture, so that takes a lot of work."

One of Pryor & Peacock's missions is to be environmentally friendly. Digital printing doesn't use the same amount of water as traditional textile productions do nor does it contaminate water with ink according to their website.

Not only are they saving water, but they are saving furniture from going into the landfill while also using more durable furniture that doesn't break as easily as current pieces. They started their business to create something unique and to help the environment together.

"It's creating something nobody else is doing. People can't continue to buy throwaway furniture. Six percent of American landfills is furniture, and digital printing not only opens up the possibility of being able to put unique images on a piece of furniture, but it also is, as I said, environmentally friendly. So, for us, the excitement is to take an old East Lake settee that somebody's going to store in their barn and forget about, and make it something completely new and surprising," Wright said.

They hope their furniture helps bring a pop of fun to someone's home.

"We think our furniture is very whimsical and surprising, and most furniture today is oatmeal colored couches and gray neutral chairs, and it's boring," she said.

The two named their business after their mothers' maiden names to honor them and believe the name reflects their pieces.

Shapiro works in interior design outside of the business and the two liked working together and thought it would be great to start a business together. Shapiro says they can work well together and that her and her mother, Wright, has flipped houses before and have the same eye for design.

"So it's very easy for us to work together. When we see something, generally we agree on whether it works or doesn't work on a piece. We agree on the color schemes and that sort of thing. So it's very fun and fulfilling to work together," Shapiro said. 

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