The
Torrance Memorial Delpit Cardiac Rehabilitation Center, a service of the
Lundquist Lurie Cardiovascular Institute, recognizes that heart disease can be physically and emotionally challenging
for both patients and their families. Our professional staff provides
a warm, safe environment, and helps each patient reach the highest possible
level of recovery.
What is Cardiac Rehabilitation?
Our comprehensive heart program includes cardiac rehabilitation, a recovery
program designed for people who have coronary artery disease, electrical
disorders of the heart, have had a heart attack, heart surgery, or balloon
angioplasty.
Our program is a medically supervised program of exercise therapy, risk
factors intervention, education and emotional support.
How Can Cardiac Rehabilitation Help Patients?
- Help patients and families through the recovery period
- Provide a safe environment during the recovery phase
- Provide emotional support and encouragement from experienced and caring
healthcare professionals, as well as other cardiac patients.
- Identify modifiable risk factors that contribute to heart disease
- Help patients reach optimum health outcomes
What to Expect
Phase 1: Inpatient
While still in the hospital, our cardiac rehabilitation nurse will work
with the patient to gradually and safely increase activity levels, provide
information about the patient's disease and treatment, answer questions,
address concerns and give the patient and family guidelines and instructions
for going home.
Phase 2: Outpatient
Cardiac Rehabilitation continues after the patient goes home. The patient
returns to the hospital three times a week on an outpatient basis for
telemetry monitored exercise therapy, education and dietary counseling.
At this level the patient will have the opportunity to interact with other
individuals who have also experienced a cardiac event.
Phase 3: Fitness Center Membership
A maintenance program provides the patient with the opportunity to continue
an exercise program in a structured, medically supervised environment
as long as it is beneficial.
Education about Heart Disease
A comprehensive educational manual, lectures and video library provide
information for the patient and family on the following topics:
- The heart and how it works
- Coronary artery disease
- Identifying and modifying risk factors
- Nutrition and food management
- Cholesterol and fats
- The recommended diet
- Medications
- Principles of exercise
- Stress
- Coping with heart disease: the effect of heart disease on the patient and family
Patient Care
Our team of registered nurses, dietitians, and exercise physiologists,
work under the direction of the medical director of cardiology services.
All staff are specially trained in the areas of cardiac medicine, nutrition
and exercise physiology. We work closely with each patient's doctor,
providing him or her with updates about their patient's progress.
How to Get Started
Each patient plays a crucial role in his or her own recovery, so it's
important for each patient to become an active participant in their treatment.
The patient and/or family can discuss entering a cardiac rehabilitation
program with the patient's doctor.
- An order from the doctor is required.
- Most insurance plans cover Phase 1 and 2