Cardiac Rehabilitation

Helping Hearts Get Back Into Great Health

Delray Medical Center’s cardiac rehabilitation program is a specialized medical service designed to improve physical function and emotional well-being and reduce the cardiovascular risk factors of people with heart disease. We are here to support patients in returning to the lifestyle we enjoy year-round in South Florida.

After admission to the hospital for a coronary event, we provide patients and family members the information they need to know about the diagnosis and treatment of heart disease, medications, risk factor modification and activity progression. Nutritional counseling and other support services are also available, as needed, to assist in making the transition to home with ease. Our program is conveniently located on Linton Boulevard just west of Interstate I-95 and encourages family members to participate in the patient’s learning process.

What Is Cardiac Rehabilitation?

Cardiac rehabilitation (also called cardiac rehab) is a medically supervised program that helps patients who have gone through a cardiac event or a heart-related procedure to get back to their best life.

What Is Involved in Cardiac Rehabilitation?

In a cardiac rehab session, a healthcare team will help you establish a heart-healthy lifestyle through health education, counseling, guided cardiac rehab exercises, healthy eating and stress reduction. The recovery program may begin as soon as the patient is ready to be released from the intensive care unit (ICU). However, it’s good to note that the strategies that healthcare professionals may include in a patient’s cardiac rehab program may depend on the severity of the heart condition or the risk for health complications.

Four Phases of Cardiac Rehab

Cardiac rehabilitation has four phases, as recovery takes time.

Phase 1 is when a patient stays for a few days in the hospital to recover from a cardiac event or a heart-related procedure.

Phase 2 takes place when the patient goes home and prepares to be a part of an outpatient recovery program. This program may include exercise sessions, education, counseling and more.

Phase 3 is usually the extension of cardiac rehab Phase 2. It is the period when health professionals help recovering patients maintain a healthier lifestyle through continuous health education and regular exercise sessions with supervision.

Phase 4 is also known as the maintenance phase. It is the period when the healthcare professionals help patients continue their healthy habits; they have started in Phases 1 to 3. In Phase 4, the patient’s primary care team regularly monitors his/her clinical condition and medication and determines potential risk factors for prevention.

Monitored Outpatient Cardiac Rehabilitation

At Delray Medical Center, we understand that working towards your heart health continues after you leave the hospital, and support is helpful for long-term success. Therefore, our cardiac rehabilitation Phase 2 program offers personalized outpatient cardiac rehab services. Through fitness activities, monitored care, education and establishing a supportive environment, this cardiac rehab program may help improve a person’s heart health and help prevent a patient from returning to the hospital for post-surgery complications or other heart issues. The program is supervised by an experienced cardiologist and a compassionate nurse.

Here are some of the things you can expect from our cardiac rehab Phase 2 program:

• Instruction and supervision on using exercise equipment such as treadmills, recumbent ellipticals and stationary bikes
• Exercising in a group setting for social support and encouragement
• Counseling and education about prevention of potential health risks (i.e., smoking cessation and cholesterol and blood pressure control)
• Weight, stress and diabetes management techniques
• Nutritional assessment and guidance
• General health education for you and your family
• Progress reports sent to your doctor

Exercise Program

We customize our exercise program based on each patient’s individual goals and functional capacity. The program consists of one hour of monitored exercise for several weeks, two to three days per week. To keep our patients safe, we use telemetry monitoring during exercise to help ensure that they are exercising within a safe and effective target heart rate range. We use several exercise modalities for aerobic benefit and TheraBands or light weights for muscle conditioning. Your insurance coverage will determine the number of sessions you can attend, duration of the program and co-pay/deductible amounts.

Education

Our team counsels patients and their families in the following areas:

• Cardiac anatomy and physiology
• Emotional aspects of heart disease
• Exercise and fitness
• Lipid and diabetes management
• Cardiac medications
• Heart healthy nutrition/weight management
• Risk factor modification
• Stress management

The Cardiac Rehabilitation Team

Our interdisciplinary team of health care providers comprises cardiologists, medical technologists, physical therapists, pharmacists, nurses, occupational therapists, nutritionists and nurses who work together to help patients improve cardiac function, reduce risk factors and lead healthier lifestyles. Throughout treatment, the patient remains under the care of his or her primary care physician and cardiologist, who receive progress reports as indicated.

Who Is Eligible for Cardiac Rehabilitation?

The Delray Medical Center cardiac rehab program is designed for patients who recently experienced any of the following:

• Angioplasty or stent procedure
• Coronary bypass or valve surgery
• Heart attack
• Heart failure
• Heart transplant or lung transplant
• Myocardial Infarction

Certain individuals with stable angina, cardiomyopathy, dysrhythmias or a cardiac transplant may also be eligible. Some insurance providers do not cover cardiac rehab after procedures involving an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) or a pacemaker. Please contact your primary care team and insurance provider to confirm if your insurance plan can cover the kind of cardiac rehab you may need.

What is Pulmonary Rehabilitation?

Pulmonary Rehabilitation is a medically supervised program to help people with chronic lung diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema, and chronic bronchitis. COPD can affect more than 12 million Americans and is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States. This program helps patients to live full, satisfying lives and restores them to their highest physical endurance. Pulmonary Rehab usually lasts eight to twelve weeks. The PR team comprises physicians, respiratory therapists, nurses, exercise physiologists and dieticians.

Pulmonary rehab usually lasts eight to 12 weeks. It may include:

• Exercise training: this portion of the program is designed to improve heart and lung function and strengthen the muscles involved in breathing.
• Psychosocial support: this aspect of rehabilitation helps patients deal with the emotional stress that may be associated with chronic lung disease.
• Educational programs may cover various topics such as breathing retraining and strategies for managing breathing problems, how lungs work and how to travel with lung disease.
• Nutrition counseling: pulmonary rehab patients may face fatigue, difficulty swallowing or poor appetite that may hinder their ability to follow a balanced diet. Nutritional counseling also helps with weight management and how to prepare and time meals, so they do not experience increased shortness of breath.

How to Enroll in Our Cardiac/Pulmonary Rehab Program

The program usually starts one to four weeks after the patient has been discharged from the hospital with the doctor’s referral. Please acquire a physician referral if you plan to join our cardiac rehab program.

Physician Referral Information