People in need of cardiac rehabilitation care will be getting some help thanks to a partnership between Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre and the YMCA.
YMCA locations in Barrie and Innsifil will now be home to the YMCA Healthy Hearts program. The initiative will focus on providing rehabilitation care for low-risk patients, who don’t need to be in a hospital-based program.
“Cardiac rehabilitationis a supervised program that includes an individualized exercise plan, nutrition counselling, smoking cessation, and stress management. These programs reduce both the risk of death and of a subsequent cardiac episode,” said Dr. Mohammed Haqqi, cardiologist and cardiac rehabilitation lead, RVH in a statement.
The program will also be suitable for patients, who have been transitioned from RVH’s intensive 12 week rehab program.
“By providing cardiac patients with a smooth transition of care from hospital to community rehabilitation, we are helping them regain strength, prevent their condition from worsening, reduce their risk of future heart problems, and improve their health and quality of life,” said Karen Pulla, vice-president, Health, Fitness and Aquatics, YMCA of Simcoe/Muskoka.
Patients can also expect faster treatment and shorter hospital time once RVH’s Advanced Cardiac Centre opens in 2017.
