Walker County Cardiac Rehabilitation
Dynamic Health Solutions from Huntsville Memorial Hospital
Cardiac rehabilitation is a medically supervised program to help heart
patients recover quickly and improve their overall physical, mental and
social functioning. The goal is to stabilize, slow or even reverse the
progression of cardiovascular disease, thereby reducing the risk of heart
disease, another cardiac event or death.
At Huntsville Memorial Hospital, we know the challenges cardiovascular
patients face as they approach their recovery and strive to return to
their everyday lives. We provide engaging, comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation
programs that give these patients the resources, guidance, and strength
to make the fullest recovery possible.
Our cardiac rehabilitation programs include:
- Counseling so the patient can understand and manage the disease process
- Beginning an exercise program
- Counseling on nutrition
Helping the patient modify risk factors such as high blood pressure, smoking,
high blood cholesterol, physical inactivity, obesity, and diabetes.
- Providing vocational guidance to enable the patient to return to work
- Supplying information on physical limitations
- Lending emotional support
- Counseling on appropriate use of prescribed medications
Fostering the Well-Being of Our Patients
Rehabilitation is only as effective as a patient's commitment to getting
better. There is strong evidence to suggest that there are other things
patients should do during their rehabilitation that can dramatically improve
their recovery. These include improving the plasma lipid and lipoprotein
profile with diet, exercise, and drug therapy. Quitting smoking is always
encouraged and highly advised, as well.
Cardiac rehabilitation is often prescribed to patients who have suffered:
- Heart attack
- Congestive heart failure
- Coronary artery bypass graft surgery
- PTCA (balloon angioplasty)
- Angina Pectoris (chest pain caused by clogged heart arteries)
- Stable chronic heart failure
- Various forms of cardiovascular disease
- Pacemaker implantation
Our rehabilitation team will devise an exercise program tailored to the
specific patient's needs. Often this exercise will be accompanied
by ECG monitoring to check on the heart's performance during physical
activity. These types of programs, combined with appropriate lifestyle
changes, have proven to be effective in dramatically improving the health
and well-being of cardiovascular patients.
The Cardiac Rehabilitation Team
Working with the team is an important part of cardiac rehab and completing
a program requires a significant term commitment from both the patient
and their health care providers. Huntsville Memorial Hospital provides
doctors (such as a family doctor, a heart specialist, and a surgeon),
exercise specialists, occupational and physical therapists, nutritionists,
and psychologists and other mental health specialists so that they may
all support these patients and contribute to their recovery at this critical time.
Your health, Our community, Our commitment. For more information on Cardiac
Rehabilitation at Huntsville Memorial Hospital, call (936) 291-4594.