February is Heart Health Month. It presents an opportunity
for healthcare providers to send messages about ways to prevent heart disease, the
leading cause of death in the United States according to the American Heart
Association (AHA). But what if it’s too late for prevention? What if you’ve
already experienced a cardiac event like a heart attack, or have been diagnosed
with a form of heart disease, or have had heart surgery? When prevention is no
longer the concern due to one or more of those reasons, cardiac rehabilitation
is available to you.
The AHA defines cardiac rehabilitation (cardiac rehab) as a
professionally supervised program to help people recover from heart attacks,
heart surgery, and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) procedures such as
stenting and angioplasty. Cardiac rehab programs usually offer exercise and
educational tools to help heart patients increase physical fitness, reduce
cardiac symptoms, improve health, and reduce the risk of future heart events,
including heart attack.
At GRMC, the cardiac rehabilitation department offers a
Phase II program that provides exercise and educational instruction to patients
with heart disease. This service is offered to outpatients. The Mayo Clinic
suggests that core components of the Phase II program may include:
- Baseline patient assessment.
- Nutritional counseling, risk factor management (lipids, hypertension, weight, diabetes, and smoking).
- Psychosocial management.
- Physical activity counseling.
- Exercise training.
Phase II Cardiac Rehab at GRMC is open to patients who have
experienced a heart attack, coronary artery bypass graft, patients with stable
chest pain, heart valve replacement, stent placement, and other cardiovascular
diseases immediately after discharge from the hospital.
For information on cardiac rehabilitation at GRMC, call
641-236-2411 or email the cardiac/pulmonary rehabilitation nurse at crstaff@grmc.us.
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