KHTS Radio Santa Clarita Radio – Santa Clarita News
The staff of Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital’s Cardiac Rehab Center have much to celebrate this month as the center not only nears its three-year anniversary, but joins healthcare teams across the nation who are recognizing February as American Heart Month.
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The Cardiac Rehab Center first opened at Henry Mayo in Feb. 2013 with the capacity for 20 patients, and has since more than doubled in size.
“When people have something heart-related, it’s very frightening,” said Dorinda Perez, the center’s creator and a registered nurse with 20 years of experience in cardiac rehabilitation. “I tell my patients, ‘You don’t have a chronic disease; this isn’t like kidney failure… You can get better from this.’ That’s been motivation for them to get back to where they were before their hospitalization. But they do need information, they do need training and they do need support. That’s what we offer here.”
Photo courtesy of the American Heart Association.
Patients recovering from a heart attack, open heart surgery or other heart-related issues can participate in three different phases of the program, according to Perez.
The first phase is education, where center staff visit cardiac patients still checked into the hospital to provide information and resources invaluable to their recovery. Phase two is an outpatient service, and offers patients a combination of education and monitored exercise three days per week for about three months.
“We have different topics every week, most of them based on modifying their lifestyle,” Perez explained, listing high blood pressure, smoking, medication, exercise safety and stress management as potential topics. “Really (it’s) all in an effort to educate them in order for them to make those better choices, and then ultimately stay out of the hospital.”
The last phase of the program focuses on health maintenance for those who have graduated from phase two and want to continue to be supervised by the center’s healthcare team while they exercise.
“All of the people in our department are RNs, all have advanced cardiac life support certification,” Perez said. “It is a safe environment; we’re watching our patients constantly. We do give them our full attention, and it is in an individualized program specific for (each) person.”
Related: Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital’s Award-Winning Emergency Program To Be Offered Countywide
In addition to smoking, Perez noted that a few of the biggest risk factors for heart disease today are high blood pressure and high cholesterol, which are often a result of Americans’ face-paced lifestyles.
“Unfortunately, because of the way that we live in this country right now with people being so busy … we have more stress, we are running around trying to get our work done and not developing good eating habits. It’s a fast food nation,” she said. “We’re seeing it more and more with our younger patients coming in here– patients as young as 39, which is frightening.”
Not only are cardiac patients becoming younger in age today, heart disease is also becoming more and more prevalent in women, according to Perez.
“It really is at this point (where it’s) more prevalent than any kind of cancer– even more prevalent than breast cancer –and the symptoms that women have are not as common as the ones that men have,” she said. “Typically (women) don’t have symptoms that lead people to think that they’re having a heart attack, so they’re often misdiagnosed or undiagnosed.”
To help prevent heart disease from developing in both women and men, Perez recommends individuals see their doctors for a baseline medical exam to have their blood pressure and cholesterol checked and to get an EKG and lab work.
“Do some preventative medicine rather than having something happen,” she said. “I think that is really key for everybody right now, and then try to get information on how to manage (your) lifestyle, to live healthier.”
Ed. Note: This article is a KHTS Feature story based on a recent interview with Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital.
Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital is a 238-bed, not-for-profit community hospital and trauma center in Santa Clarita. The Henry Mayo Hospital emergency department is open 24-7 to provide critical life-saving services, with a panel of physicians available around the clock for critical healthcare needs. In addition, a number of specialized care services are also available, including a maternity department, community hospital cancer program, advanced primary stroke center, spine and joint program, acute rehab unit, cardiology services, outpatient wound care, physical and occupational therapies and a wide range of surgical services.
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Well said Dorinda. We are a fast food nation and our grocery shelves are full of these items. Eating healthy and plating fresh products are on the rise as well as educating our young people to make good selections when having a meal. Our community is also full of exciting fun things for everyone to participate in to keep us motivated and moving. JUST DO IT.