Cardiac rehabilitation jump-starts recoveries (USA)

Making hearts, minds and bodies stronger to all work together. That's the philosophy behind cardiac rehabilitation, said Genny Falzone. And she should know. As a cardiac rehabilitation nurse, Falzone has worked with thousands of patients recovering from heart attacks, open heart surgery, stents and bypasses. And she was one of the driving forces behind the changing face of cardiac rehabilitation in the Wyoming Valley Health Care System, Pennsylvania, about 13 years ago. "Around 1995, we started a whole new continuum of care for heart patients," she said. "Nurses along with cardiologists and surgeons began developing programs to help patients. We tried to nurture and create an environment that will help recovery. "With the whole cardiac rehabilitation team working together, we got the patients up and moving faster to prevent them from pulmonary complications, we started educating them on what to expect, included their family members in the recovery process and helped the hospital by having a shorter stay per patient." Another goal was to help patients deal with the emotional stress of undergoing heart surgery and facing rehabilitation by having many of the same rehab practitioners work with the patient during recovery - timesleader.com