The February 2017 Department Discovery shines a light on the Cardiac Rehabilitation
department!
If you have a heart or lung condition, Campbell County Memorial Hospital's
Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehabilitation department in Gillette, Wyoming can help you get healthy and function independently
as quickly and safely as possible. Since February is known as
American Heart Month, Campbell County Health wants to focus on the Cardiac Rehabilitation side
of this department.
Cardiac Rehab is part of CCH’s robust Cardiology program. Our highly
skilled, board certified cardiologists at the Campbell County Medical Group
Cardiology clinic are here at all times to care for patients and our
cardiac cath lab allows us to provide care quickly during an emergency. And we can help
get you back to your daily routine after a heart incident with our Cardiac
Rehabilitation program. Drs.
Sairav Shah, FACC, and
Nicholas Stamato, FACC, use these and other tools to diagnose and treat heart problems
as the first cardiologists living and working in Gillette. The cardiac
care team includes our physicians, registered nurses in the Clinic, as
well as a team of registered nurses and technicians in Cardiac Cath Lab
and Cardiac Rehabilitation departments.
For those who don’t know, Cardiac Rehab is a monitored exercise and
education program, helping patients recover faster and return to full
and productive lives. Cardiac Rehab usually begins in the hospital following
a heart attack, heart surgery or other cardiac event, and continues in
an outpatient setting after patients leave the hospital. Patients are
referred by their doctor, and have an initial interview and orientation
with one of our nurses, who will help choose a convenient time of day
to attend classes, which are held three days per week. At their cardiac
rehab session, patients learn how to exercise safely to strengthen and
maintain a healthy heart. Exercise plans are based on individual needs,
interests and abilities and monitored by registered nurses. Patients also
receive information to help understand their heart condition and learn
to adjust to a new lifestyle by changing their behaviors.
The department of three—Donna Reece, BSN, RN-BC;
Leah Thalken, RN, CCRP, and Kelly Tryon, RN—is managed by Sherry Bailey, RN,
who is also the Director of the CCMH
Intensive Care Unit. Cardiac Rehabilitation is under the direction of a licensed physician,
and the staff is certified by the
American College of Sports Medicine. The program is also certified by the
American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation and the
American Nurse Credentialing Center.
The team surveys all of their patients in the program and is continually
averaging a 95% satisfaction rate. “We are so fortunate that we
see so much improvement with our patients who participate in the program,
and we get immense satisfaction in helping people go back to live a longer,
healthy life,” says Leah.
Kelly agrees, and adds: “We see a patient when they are very anxious
and really aren’t sure how they are going to go back to living their
life after a heart attack. We really do feel like we make a difference
in our patient’s lives because we can see so much progress.”
The team has been hard at work the past few years helping CCH design a
new cardiac rehab gym, which will have an open house on Thursday, March
9 from 2-4 pm. “We’re growing to meet the needs of our community,”
says Sherry. “We’re excited to be able to increase the number
of patients we serve, and we will also begin offering a maintenance program.”
The gym has grown from 645 square feet to more than 4,000 square feet to
accommodate larger rehab classes and care for our patients well into the
future. (We sure hope you can come check it out; learn
more about it here!)
A big round of applause to the Cardiac Rehabilitation team at CCMH! Thank
you for all that you do in keeping our community healthy.
Learn more about Cardiac Rehab at
www.cchwyo.org/CR.
