Heart Association teaching better habits to women

Graduates of Better U program was delayed due to pandemic

Tamara Garrison feels like a completely new person.

Garrison is one of 12 women who graduated from Better U last week, a free program hosted every year by the American Heart Association to teach women better eating and exercise habits in the hopes of warding off heart disease and stroke.

More than 100 women applied for 14 slots in late 2019 and started off enthusiastically in February 2020. When the pandemic started, Better U leader Maria Decker briefly tried to conduct meetings and workouts through video conferences. It didn’t work, Decker says, because the program works on camaraderie between the women who support each other. Against the Heart Association’s wishes, Decker put the program on hold in hopes she could resume eventually in person. The moment came in August 2021, but it still wasn’t easy. In past years, Decker has relied on donated spaces for meetings. When no one else would open their doors to her, she began meeting in the Crossings Park in Colonie and then at the venue space at 433 River St., Troy, managed by her son, Sean Wilcoxson.

Better U also includes personal coaching by instructors at the Guilderland YMCA and nutrition advice from student dietitians as well as Ellie Wilson, senior nutritionist at Price Chopper supermarkets.

The formula worked for Garrison, who said she looked forward to group workouts because it was an opportunity to see her new friends.

“I’m better at work, better in my relationships,” Garrison gushed, following a glam session at Grit and Grace salon, where all of the women dressed in red and the stylists did their hair and makeup for free before for the Go Red for Women lunch at the Albany Capital Center Friday.

Rebekah Brisbane, wearing a floor-length, off-the-shoulder red dress and a crown of curls, praised the “sisterhood” of women who held each other up. Beyond the friendships, Brisbane said the body awareness she learned will stay with her long term. Stress is a major factor in poor health. Now, Brisbane says, when she feels stress rising, she knows how to bring it down.

“I know how to turn inward and be grateful, and neutralize the external stressors. I focus on the light within me, and it’s that light that helps me turn away from the fridge and the fast-food line,” Brisbane said.

In all, 12 women completed the program and made an entrance at the Capital Center to a standing ovation. Decker, who was honored with the Jane Golub Crystal Heart Award at the lunch, cried as she announced them. The Better U leader for 10 years, Decker forms close relationships with “her girls” each year. But no one else, she said, suffered through a pandemic together.