Memorial Hermann expands its cardiac rehab gym in The Woodlands – Chron

Jeff Forward,Staff writer

Oct. 15, 2020Updated: Oct. 15, 2020 4:55p.m.

Patients who have had any cardiac surgery or health care require specialized post-procedure care to help their repaired heart or cardiovascular system to adjust and recover. To assist that process, officials at Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Medical Center opened on Oct. 5 a newly expanded, high-tech cardiac rehabilitation gym that quadruples the size of the old center.

Dana Clark, the Wellness Services coordinator for Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Medical Center, said the new facility which is 4,000 square feet is the latest iteration of the ongoing cardiac rehab services that began being provided at the south Montgomery County hospital in 2005. The new space is four-times larger than the old facility, meaning more patients can use the gym while being monitored by doctors and an array of advanced technical monitoring equipment.

We do in-patient and out-patient both. On the in-patient side, we do loads of education for all cardiology patients. If a patient comes in for a heart attack, or needs a stent placed, or needs bypass surgery or valves surgery, we do all of their pre- and post-surgery education, Clark explained. Our job is to make the transition for them after they get discharged from the hospital, which entails basically 36 sessions of monitored exercise. We hook them up to an EKG monitor and we sort of do small stress tests on these patients. In laymans terms, we kind of do stress tests. When they come in here, we steadily push them, but not to their maximum.

The former cardiac rehab gym space was 1,000 square feet and carpeted with limited capacity, and was, as Clark says, a make do area. The new gym offers many extra amenities that were impossible in the former area. The gym has treadmills, eliptical machines recumbent bicycle machines and other equipment. Normally, 31 patients can use the facility but that is restricted to 75 percent at the moment.

The new facility has an enlarged capacity, Clark noted, but due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions in place only seven patients can use the gym at one time. Each patient does 50 minutes of monitored exercise with a focus on their heart rate, blood pressure and other vital statistics. Nurses, doctors and other medical staff not only watch over the recovering cardiac patients, but also offer emotional support during their journey to recovery over the 36 mandatory sessions.

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A lot of times, patients are overwhelmed and scared and all of those things, thinking, oh my gosh, something big happened to my heart and I did not expect that. Occasionally, well get grumpy patients at first. They are grumpy at first, and grumpy just because they are scared. Its been a whirlwind for them, Clark added. Our job is to not only exercise them, but we offer emotional support. The staff and I laugh about it frequently. They are grumpy for about three weeks, then by the time they finish the program, they tell us, we love this, we dont want to leave. We dont do invasive work, but we do a ton of emotional support and cardiovascular exercise so they can re-strengthen that heart so it does what it is supposed to do.

Whether a patient is being treated for chest pains, receiving a stent or heart surgeries such as transplants, bypass or valve repairs, patients not only need to recover from those invasive procedures but also retrain the heart which is technically part muscle and organ and strengthen it.

Dr. Giridhar Vedala, a cardiologist and the medical director for Cardiac Rehab Services for Memorial Hermann The Woodlands, said the cardiac rehab is critical and also under-recognized and under-utilized across the nation. Now, though, he said, the rehab is a new focus of importance for cardiac doctors across the nation and has received renewed emphasis from several medical organizations.

It is a fantastic thing that is frankly is under-recognized and under-utilized from the national standpoint. For that reason, all of our national societies the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association they have really made it an important piece of treatment for cardiac patients who have had previous heart attacks, heart failure, coronary procedures such as angioplasty or stents, Vedala said. Those patients need to be engaged in cardiac rehab in (time) proximity to their event for those 36 sessions. It is part of their core (recovery) measures and something that is followed and tracked by hospitals.

Vedala said the goals of the rehab are to get patients comfortable after a traumatic heart event, provide education about not only heart disease but post-medical procedure self-care and also getting the patients comfortable re-engaging with the world and their former lifestyles and activities. Depending on what medications patients may be on and their heart condition, the usual work out has them exercise at about 30 heart beats above their resting rate during the sessions.

The data is very clear on this, those patients who get these diagnoses and procedures, if they participate in cardiac rehab, they will do better than others who do not do the cardiac rehab, Vedala added. There will always be individual variances. If you have a professional athlete or someone of higher activity ability, it is flexible. It is based on what the individual patient needs. But getting the general population aware of the importance of (cardiac rehab), it is something that is really imperative and a national goal for all of our cardiac societies. Having (the gym) here where many of our cardiac offices are located and patients got their care, all of those things make it more comfortable for the patients. It is a fantastic thing to expand to four times (the size) of what we could do before.

Clark said the bond between doctors and staff and the patients that develops over the course of their rehabilitation creates special relationships. When the journey is over, goodbyes are difficult but joyous.

It is really exciting for us when a patient leaves. They do defintely touch our hearts for sure, Clark added.

jeff.forward@chron.com

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Memorial Hermann expands its cardiac rehab gym in The Woodlands - Chron