Cardiac Rehab Unit Adds Classes

CARDIAC REHAB UNIT ADDS CLASSES

COVINGTON - St. Tammany Parish Hospital’s Cardiac Rehab Unit has added two programs and adjusted its education program to better serve the needs of the community’s heart patients.

PHASE III PROGRAM

St. Tammany Parish Hospital’s Cardiac Rehab Phase III program is designed to help individuals acquire the skills and knowledge needed to work toward a lifetime of heart disease management and prevention.

Exercise classes include a warm-up, cardiovascular exercise and strength training. This independent exercise requires a physician referral. Qualified Cardiac Rehab personnel provide a supervised environment. Participants will use upright bikes, recumbent bikes, treadmills, arm cycles, rowing machines, NuStep, steps, weight machine and hand weights. The program is built around the participant’s age, current level of conditioning, physical limitations and health history.

Structured group classes are held Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons at the Paul D. Cordes Outpatient Pavilion, 16300 Highway 1085, Covington. Candidates include anyone with a history of heart disease or those with risk factors for heart disease such as diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure or high cholesterol.

The cost is $35 for orientation, which includes wearing a heart monitor and blood pressure monitoring. Each session is $4 with weekly blood pressure and monthly heart rhythm monitoring.

PAD EXERCISE PROGRAM

Healthy Steps is exercise training for people with peripheral artery disease (PAD), which also is known as peripheral vascular disease (PVD). This affects more than 9 million people nationwide, and at least half of those affected have no obvious leg symptoms. The comprehensive program is designed to improve symptoms and increase each patient’s quality of life.

Classes are supervised by Cardiac Rehab registered nurses, clinical exercise physiologists and exercise specialists supervise the class, while Cardiac Rehab staff, an STPH pharmacist and an STPH dietician discuss topics such as signs and symptoms of a heart attack, cardiac risk factors, cholesterol, diabetes, nutrition and smoking cessation. They are held Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the Paul D. Cordes Outpatient Pavilion, 16300 Highway 1085, Covington.

Initial orientation is $35, which includes medical history intake, medication review, treadmill test, blood pressure measurements and EKG monitoring. Each supervised exercise session is $4, which includes blood pressure and heart rate monitoring and weekly and monthly EKG monitoring. A physician referral is required.

CARDIAC EDUCATION

The Cardiac Education classes focus on topics that include early warning signs of a heart attack, preparing for a cardiac emergency, risk factors for heart disease, benefits of exercise, nutrition for a healthy heart, weight management, medications, and stress management.

Classes will be held from 9-11:30 a.m. bimonthly starting Sept. 11 at the Cordes Outpatient Pavilion in Conference Room 2. Lunch is included, and participants are asked to RSVP the Friday before the class.

For more information about any of the classes or to register, call (985) 898-3780.

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 A full-service acute care facility committed to providing world-class healthcare and the latest technology, St. Tammany Parish Hospital delivers today’s life-improving procedures with the utmost care to area residents with emphasis on wellness, preventive care and disease management close to home. STPH is a self-supporting not-for-profit community hospital; it receives no tax funding. STPH.org