Hospital using cardiac rehab week to highlight how to have a healthy heart
With February being National Heart Month, Faith Regional Health Services’ cardiac rehabilitation team used this week to create fun activities and learn chances for its patients.

Shane O’Brien, Faith Regional cardiac rehab manager, said cardiac rehab week featured a poker run and drawings. The hospital also is bringing in speakers who talk about general heart health and nutrition.

“It’s usually been patients that have already been here through the program, but they’re allowed to bring their spouses, learn more about it and have some fun,” he said.

O’Brien said there are a few ways patients can use its services. Doctors will order such rehab for patients who either suffered a heart attack, a stent placement, congestive heart failure or bypass surgery, he added.

“What we do is exercise and education,” O’Brien said. “It’s lifestyle modification. We’re not going to fix them in six or eight weeks when we have them. But we try to get them on a good start where they can carry on lifelong health and risk factor modification so that they don’t have another heart event and they can live a long, healthy life even with a previous heart event.”

O’Brien said this is usually found in the hospital's Phase 2 program. Faith Regional also has a Phase 4 program for those who are at high risk of having a heart event but have yet to undergo one. This is for those who are obese, have diabetes or have high blood pressure, he said.

“We get them started on an exercise program,” he said. “It’s kind of the same thing (as before). It’s lifestyle modification so those risk factors they currently have don’t lead to a heart event. That’s open to pretty much anybody.”

Faith Regional also lists several services offered by cardiac rehab.

Those include nutrition counseling, classes and support groups, hands-only CPR education, stress management, social services, smoking cessation, exercise and support in helping those who might be recovering from lingering COVID-19 effects.

The hospital also offers the Healthy Partners Spouse Program, which encourages a patient’s family and caregivers to also participate in such services.

Undergoing cardiac rehab, the hospital noted, helps patients improve their overall well-being, improve their quality of life, lower heart rate and blood pressure, manage their weight, prevent future heart problems, return to work sooner and strengthen their lungs.

O’Brien said the hospital also has a pulmonary program and in March, it will celebrate pulmonary rehab week. The patients use the rehab if they have COPD or lung cancer, for example.

“There are a lot of patients out there that go through a lung event and they don’t know what to do we can help them on the run to recovery,” O’Brien said. “It’s their responsibility, too. We’re not going to fix them in six or eight weeks but, hopefully, we get them on a good start.”

Improving heart health

The League Association of Risk Management provided eight ways to improve heart health as a way to highlight February Heart Month

1. Get cholesterol checked: Levels of 160 or higher mg/DL are considered unhealthy and put you at risk of having a heart attack.

2. High blood pressure affects heart health: It’s believed one in two adults in the U.S. has high blood pressure, but only one in five controls it. Any reading over 130/80 mmHg is evidence that the individual is at increased risk of stroke or heart disease.

3. Quit smoking: Smoking cigarettes causes damage to the heart and blood vessels.

4. Stress physiologically affects heart health: Manage stress by staying positive, making time to meditate, exercising unplugging from television or social media and, finally, finding your own technique to handle stress.

5. Weight affects heart health: Being overweight increases the chance of becoming diabetic, which can triple the risk of having a heart attack.

6. Reduce salt intake: This dramatically reduces the risk of coronary heart disease.

7. Brush your teeth: Researchers have proven that the bacteria that causes gum disease also increase the risk of heart disease.

8. Drink moderately: Heavy drinking is linked to high blood pressure, heart failure and cardiomyopathy, a heart muscle disorder. Moderate drinking is defined as 12 ounces of beer or 4 ounces of wine per day.