• Heart attacks and ischaemic heart disease
• Kyneton Clinic now has a SIS Wellness Program
• Public Holiday Closure for AFL Grand Final
• Take action for your bone heatlth

Spring Medical’s special health and wellness focus this spring is ischaemic heart disease and heart attack prevention.

• unusual breathlessness, when resting or undertaking light physical activity
• discomfort, heaviness, tightness or a dull ache in the chest that may spread to the back, shoulders, jaw or neck
• discomfort in the arm, jaw or neck with no chest discomfort

• identify your health and care needs
• set out the services to be provided by your doctor
• list actions you can take to help manage your condition (self management)
• identify treatments and ongoing services

• becoming physically active
• following a heart-healthy diet 
• drinking less alcohol
• losing weight
• quitting smoking
• reducing your stress levels and monitoring your blood pressure
• better management of your diabetes
• getting support to improve your mental health

Our GPs are more than happy to discuss your condition and can arrange an
assessment and management plan suited to your individual needs.

We can also offer support and education through our SIS Wellness Program.

We’re delighted to announce we've expanded our popular Put a Spring In Your Step (SIS) Wellness Program to cater to our Kyneton Clinic patients.

SIS, which has helped many patients living with chronic or complex health conditions (including ischaemic heart disease) in the Hepburn Shire since 2017, is now available to eligible patients attending Kyneton Clinic.

If you live with a chronic condition, such as heart disease and/or high blood pressure (hypertension), the thought of regular exercise may seem daunting. You may feel out of your depth managing your health issues and this may be affecting your mental health and wellness and social life.

Paradoxically, an individually tailored exercise program may be just what you need to feel more energised and capable of living a more enjoyable and independent life. This is where Springs Medical’s Put a Spring In Your Step (SIS) Wellness Program can help you, by supporting you to incorporate achievable, healthier behaviours into your daily life.

Joining the program is easy. All you need is a referral from your GP. Our GPs and nurses work with the SIS team to ensure the best outcomes for you.

The SIS Wellness program incorporates 8 weeks of supervised exercise and education to help you live well and manage your long-term health so you can do more of the things you love.

Wellness Nurse Millie Gellatly is SIS Kyneton’s Program Coordinator. She works alongside Exercise Physiologist Jake Dwyer, who supervises the assessment and exercise program at Kyneton. Exercise Physiologist Jack Clark currently delivers exercise sessions for the SIS Program at Daylesford, Trentham and Creswick.


Exercise has an important role in the prevention, treatment and management of chronic diseases. A chronic disease is any health condition that has been, or is likely to be present, for six months or more. It also includes conditions such as arthritis, diabetes, asthma, osteoporosis and depression and anxiety.

Jake says there’s no downside to being fitter and stronger. ‘Suddenly you’ll notice that things you found hard to when you first started become easier. There’s a saying that if all the benefits of exercise were put into a pill, it would be the most prescribed pill in the world.’

Regular moderate-intensity exercise is fabulous for people living with ischaemic heart disease and hypertension, he says, because it makes the heart stronger and more efficient.

Exercise can help:

• prevent arteries from narrowing further
• prevent blood clotting which may lead to a heart attack
• in the delivery of blood and oxygen to the heart muscle
• maintain a normal heart rhythm

Other benefits from exercise include: better physical functioning, increased mental wellbeing, improved blood pressure and better diabetic insulin sensitivity. It can even increase your confidence and self esteem!

‘Doing something’s better than nothing’ when it comes to exercise, Jake says. ‘Even 10 minutes a day is awesome because you can always build that up.’

He advises people to find a physical activity they enjoy. ‘If you enjoy an activity, you’re more likely to keep doing it.’

Millie says the program also educates participants about how to live better and gives strategies for preventing or reducing hospitalisation and the progression of disease.

While each SIS participant follows an individually tailored program, they meet as a group and this a fun and supportive way to connect with others in their community.

‘We see a lot of older adults who have not been to a gym before,’ she says. ‘Not only does the SIS Program make exercising accessible for these people, they also learn how to do the exercises properly and at a level that’s suitable for them.’

‘From a safety perspective, we take your blood pressure, heart rate and oxygen saturation levels at the start and end of each session to ensure it’s safe for you to exercise.’

SIS also guides patients on exercising at home via an exercise program on their mobile phone.

The program includes:

• Initial 1-hour assessments with Jake Dwyer
• 30 min physical assessment with Jake Dwyer
• 2 x 1hr gym sessions each week for 8 weeks

See your GP for a referral or call 0493 127 779 to talk to Jake about the program.

Cost and Payment:
Funding from Murray PHN enables us to provide Jake’s expertise at no costs to people in the program. Patients just need to pay to use the gym which cost about $14 per week paid directly to the gym facility (Eclipse Gym, Kyneton).

If you are ineligible for the SIS Program and want to improve your health and wellness, Jake also leads daytime group fitness classes at Xistance Gym in Daylesford which are a fun and affordable social activity at $10 a session. Click here for more details.

Jake also offers a private Exercise Physiology service at Kyneton on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, providing health assessments and personal exercise programs. Call Kyneton Clinic on 5422 1298 to make a booking.