Cardiac Rehab & Wellness
Getting Back to Your Life
Cardiac rehabilitation aims to improve the health of patients with heart disease, including those recovering from a heart attack or recent heart surgery.
Benefits of Cardiac Rehabilitation:
- Reduce your risk of future cardiac events
- Improve your physical function and exercise capacity
- Address and improve modifiable risk factors
- Enhance your mood and overall quality of life
If you've had a heart attack, undergone a heart procedure, or had heart surgery, you likely have many questions:
- What activities can I do?
- What should I eat?
- What lifestyle changes should I make?
- How can exercise benefit my health?
CMC's Cardiovascular Rehabilitation & Wellness Program offers a comprehensive three-part program to answer these questions, provide support and help you make healthy lifestyle choices while strengthening your heart.
Comprehensive Cardiac Education Videos
These patient education videos designed to assist you with your recent diagnosis and recovery after your recent hospitalization. Click the links below to watch the videos:
- Cardiac Surgery Pre-Op—Patient & Family Education
- Cardiac Surgery—Home Care Guidelines
- Heart Failure
- Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR)—Patient & Family Education
- Understanding Your Heart Attack
- Phase 2 Educational Resources
For more information on cardiac rehabilitation and wellness, please call:
Why choose CMC?
CMC's Cardiac Rehabilitation Program is certified through the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation (AACVPR). Our AACVPR-certified program distinguishes us as a leader in cardiac rehabilitation. AACVPR-certified programs are known for their advanced practices, ensuring we provide the latest rehabilitation techniques. Our certification is outcomes-based, demonstrating our dedication to high-quality patient care and achieving meaningful results.
Phase I: Comprehensive Cardiac Education
While you are in the hospital, you can participate in a comprehensive educational program that covers the following areas:
- Normal anatomy and physiology of the heart
- Coronary artery disease
- Valvular disease
- Management of cardiovascular risk factors: smoking, high blood pressure, weight loss, diabetes, cholesterol, sedentary lifestyle, stress management, nutrition, medication, and activity
Phase II: Cardiac Rehabilitation at CMC
The Cardiac Rehabilitation program on the CMC campus is designed to help strengthen your heart after heart surgery, a heart attack, or coronary intervention, enabling you to return to the daily activities you enjoy.
With a physician’s referral, you can attend exercise and educational classes. Supervised exercise sessions are held for one hour, three times a week, led by an exercise specialist and monitored by a cardiac rehabilitation nurse specialist. You will also receive individual nutritional counseling. Group education classes cover the following topics:
- Nutrition: shopping tips, cholesterol, fat and fiber, and dining out
- Benefits of exercise
- Stress management
- Managing cardiovascular risk factors: smoking, high blood pressure, weight loss, diabetes, cholesterol, sedentary lifestyle, medication and stress management
Phase III: Cardiac Rehabilitation at The Wellness Center
After you have 'graduated' from the cardiac rehabilitation program at CMC, you can continue your progress at The Wellness Center, CMC’s, outpatient cardiac rehabilitation center. Expand your monitored exercise and cardiac education at The Wellness Center to help you transition to a healthy life.
Patient Stories
Get Active
For Michael McFadden, heart problems run in the family. In the 1990s, both he and his twin brother had stents put in and his older brother had triple bypass surgery. “While recovering (from surgery) a person from CMC called me and strongly suggested getting into cardiovascular wellness.” Twenty years later, Michael still faithfully works out three times a week. With his family history, Michael has, “no intention of stopping. I know the exercise helps and if I wind up with future (heart) events, I want to be physically fit and ready for it.”
Controlling Your Cholesterol
David Betz admits managing his cholesterol “should have been a priority a long time ago, but I pushed it off and kept saying I was going to manage it with diet and exercise.” The wakeup call was a heart attack 13 years ago. “I made a stronger effort with exercise and diet and started taking medication.” Today, David’s cholesterol is under control and he no longer goes to the cholesterol clinic. He’s also become a runner and, thanks to the encouragement of his exercise instructor, Denise Houseman at CMC’s Cardiac Rehabilitation and Wellness Program, now has two half marathons under his belt.
Managing Your Blood Pressure
David Proulx and his wife have always been fairly active people, but three years ago David was beset by atrial fibrillation—AFib—and high blood pressure. “I couldn’t even cut my grass anymore and it was frightening. I didn’t have the stamina.” He made some major lifestyle changes including losing weight, exercising, and eating better. “That combination has helped bring my blood pressure down,” which has helped improve his overall health and stamina. “It still fluctuates but now I’m really paying attention to it.” David cannot only mow the lawn again, “I can do so much more—bicycle, kayak, all the things we used to do.”
