Cardic rehabilitation helps you recover heart health
Last week, we talked about the importance of being heart healthy and knowing the warning signs of a heart attack. But what if you already have heart disease or have suffered a heart attack? As we recognize National Heart Month, it may be helpful to know about some of the services available locally to help you manage or recover from heart-related problems.
Bonner General Hospital’s Cardiac Rehabilitation department offers a physician-referred, R.N.-supervised program for individuals who have had coronary bypass surgery, stents, heart valve surgery, a heart attack, or who have stable angina.
Through physical conditioning, education and counseling, the program helps people with heart disease and/or heart surgery to safely resume the activities of daily life.
Speci-fically, the program teaches you to:
• Understand and reduce your risk factors for heart disease
• Learn how to manage your condition with a healthy diet
• Develop a safe exercise program that will return you to optimal physical condition
• Reduce stress and anxiety
• Rebuild a healthy lifestyle
Cardiac rehabilitation focuses on gradually increasing your physical fitness levels in a safe and supervised environment. Participants are instructed in the importance of exercise, safe exercise habits, recognizing when to slow down or stop, and symptoms to report to the physician.
An exercise program is designed specifically for you and includes aerobic exercise, strength training and stretching.
During each exercise sessions, you will be closely supervised and monitored with an electrocardiographic (EKG) monitoring system.
After completing the EKG-monitored program, you may enroll in a cardiac maintenance program. In this phase of the program, emphasis is placed on endurance exercises, strength training and continued behavioral changes. Blood pressure, heart rate and oxygen levels are monitored.
In addition to the physical conditioning program, educational sessions are provided to help you increase your knowledge and understanding about your heart condition. These sessions cover a variety of topics including modifying risk factors, nutrition and diet and stress reduction. The Cardiac Rehabilitation staff is also available to you for individual counseling.
A physician’s referral is required for the Cardiac Rehabilitation program, which is offered every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The program is approved by Medicare for reimbursement and is also covered by many private insurance companies. If you would like more information, please call the hospital’s Cardiac Rehabilitation department at 265-7480.
n Lynda Metz is the director of community development at Bonner General Hospital.