JMH Cardiovascular Rehabilitation

Cardiovascular (CV) disease is the number one killer of Americans and patients worldwide.  Those whom survive a CV event have been dealt a huge burden, including physiologically, psychologically, and financially. 

Cardiac Rehabilitation (CR) originated in the 1950’s.  Prior, patients were initially placed on bed rest with an extremely limited lifestyle thereafter.  Yet, with subsequent progress in CV care and several recent studies demonstrating improvement in morbidity and mortality, CR is now accepted as an integral part of the CV care of excellence. 

Our program will be a comprehensive Phase II Cardiac Rehabilitation/Secondary Prevention program.  It will include exercise, education, risk factor modification, and facilitate a life-long commitment to exercise and healthy living.

Most reports state that only about 30-32% of qualified patients attend CR.  This is a failure of the system in referring patients to CR, a lack of dedication of the patients to attend CR, and the inadequacy of our healthcare system in providing financial assistance for a well proven program as CR.  In 2006, greater than 7,500 CV events occurred and were treated at the surrounding hospitals, UMH (formally Cedars Medical Center), JMH, Mercy Hospital, and Mount Sinai Medical Center.  JMH, as a Cardiovascular institute of excellence, owes it to our community and staff to providing a dedicated center where patients can go and learn how to reduce future events, improve their lives, and return to society as an active participant.

JMH serves a diverse population with a vast array of CV risk factors.  Highly cited in numerous articles pertaining to Cardiac Rehab is the under utilization of cardiac rehab in minorities, women, and the elderly.  We will focus our attention on these groups.  Our program will consit of a multidisciplinary approach to overall cardiovascular disease risk reduction and involve the following:

• Symptom-limited exercise tolerance / stress test before entering the program.
• Up to 36 sessions of supervised exercise with continuous telemetry monitoring  (3 rehabilitation sessions per week for 12 weeks).
• Educational programs for risk factor / stress reduction
• Creation of an individual outpatient exercise program that can be self monitored and maintained.

JMH Cardiac Rehabilitation Program will consist of a multidisciplinary outpatient approach to overall cardiovascular disease risk reduction.   This will be accomplished through core therapeutic modality via monitored and supervised exercise training, consisting of components aimed at optimizing cardiovascular risk reduction, fostering healthy behaviors, and improving functional capacity and quality of life in patients with heart disease. 

The Primary components of cardiac rehabilitation will include:

• Patient Assessment
• Exercise Training and other therapeutic exercise (aerobic strength)
• Physical Activity Counseling
• Nutritional counseling
• Lipid Management
• Blood Pressure Management
• Smoking Cessation
• Weight Management
• Diabetes Management
• Psychosocial Management
• Facilitating a life-long commitment to exercise and other lifestyle changes

The Expected outcomes will be:

Of the 26 Cardiac Rehab Programs accredited and certified by the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation (AACVPR), only two are located in South Florida.  Both programs are in the suburbs and greater than a 10 mile radius from JMH.  Thus, our comprehensive cardiac rehab program will be accessible to a large, diverse population and will contribute to a major positive health impact on the South Florida population as a whole.  In addition, our program will serve as a model for similar programs elsewhere.

Dr. Melissa J. Tracy serves as the Medical Director for the JMH Cardiovascular Rehabilitation program.

If you would like to contact us, please call 305-585-6990 or fax to 305-585-5574.