Programs

The Cardiac Rehabilitation Program at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Hurst-Euless-Bedford focuses on individuals who have heart disease or who are at high risk for developing heart disease. With your physician's referral, the cardiac rehabilitation team will establish a personalized program tailored to meet each patient's cardiac rehabilitation needs and capabilities. Patients graduate from the program with improvement in strength and endurance as well as overall health and wellness.

Cardiac rehabilitation patients attend classes three times a week at one of the Texas Health HEB Fitness Center. The classes concentrate on exercise and other important aspects of daily living, such as good nutrition, healthy eating habits, weight control, smoking cessation and cholesterol and stress management. Spouses are also encouraged to attend.

The three-phase program includes:

• Phase I, which occurs while registered as an inpatient at the hospital. This program includes cardiac education, assessment of risk factors and individualized progressive activity programs designed to assist the patient in his or her return to daily physical activities.
  
  
• Phase II involves the fitness center, which provides facilities for aerobic and strength conditioning along with full locker rooms and free parking. This phase emphasizes a specialized excercise program designed to help patients reach their full potential. Patients wear a heart monitor so that the cardiac rehabilitiation staff can safely monitor a patient's progress throughout a 12-week period. The monitor provides continuous feedback on the body's responses to exercise, ensures safety, and indicates appropriate responses for progression. Throughout the program, each patient's physician is continuously updated on his or her progress.
  
  
• Phase III is available for those individuals who are at high risk of developing cardiovascular disease but who may not need to go through Phase II. Although heart monitors are not worn during this phase, exercise is supervised and adjusted as necessary. Phase III also provides continuing exercise and monitoring for graduates of Phase II.

A cardiac rehabilitation nurse and exercise physiologist establish a safe and effective program to start each patient on the road to recovery. Cholesterol management and follow-up tests allow the staff to monitor and ensure each patient's progress, and all results are sent to the patient's physician.