Short term rehab is a familiar concept for many people, but you may not have heard about cardiac rehab. These centers are increasingly common as doctors have learned that people with heart problems need to make many lifestyle changes after a cardiovascular incident, and the extent of these changes can be overwhelming to someone who is in poor health.  A cardiac care rehab center can support mom or dad in making long term changes that will improve their health and avoid future heart problems.

What Is Cardiac Rehab?

Often, after a person has a heart attack, bypass, stent procedure, or some other heart-related medical event, their doctor will send them to a cardiac care rehab center, a medical program that helps heart patients improve their health. These professionally supervised programs combine education, fitness motivation, medication instruction, and dietary support. The hope is that by sending a heart patient to cardiac care rehab, the patient can change his or her lifestyle habits to prevent future coronary problems.

What Happens at Cardiac Rehab?

Usually, the first thing that occurs when a senior visits a cardiac rehab program is that he or she is fully evaluated by the medical staff. The doctors and nurses on-site will weigh your parent, check blood pressure, and discuss current fitness level. The staff will also need to know what kinds of procedures have been done and what medications mom or dad is taking. They will then set goals for what they hope to accomplish over the course of the rehab treatment.

What Will Be Covered?

A major purpose of a cardiac rehab center is to provide patients with plenty of information about healthy living, The following topics may be covered in depth so that the patient can not only understand what to do to be healthy but also how poor choices affect the human body. A major focus of cardiac rehab education is how diet, exercise, and proper medication management can improve one's heart health.

Diet

The professionals at a cardiac short term rehab will correct years of misinformation regarding nutrition. They will emphasize how crucial diet is to controlling weight and improving blood pressure.

Exercise 

Cardiac rehab centers meet people where they are with regards to exercise. They will work with your loved one to develop a fitness plan that they can accomplish. If your mom or dad has limited mobility, they will figure out some form of exercise that they can do. These compassionate people will also do their best to make exercise fun!

Medication

An important aspect of cardiac rehab is learning to manage one's medications. The nurses and doctors will discuss how properly taking the correct medicines can help protect cardiovascular health, and they will also talk about the managing the side effects of these medicines.

Healthy Habits

Cardiac rehab will also work to develop overall healthy habits in your elderly loved one. If he or she smokes cigarettes, they will get persistent encouragement to quit.  Counselling can also address things like depression, anger, and anxiety.

How Long Will It Last?

The length of time that your loved one is in cardiac rehab can vary. Much of it depends on how much work is to be done in your loved one's life and how quickly they can learn to manage their heart condition. Cardiac rehab centers are designed to support and encourage people in the pursuit of a healthy life and to build new habits to replace old, unhealthy ones. Mom or dad may attend cardiac rehab for two months or may need to attend meetings sporadically for up to a year. In some extreme cases, patients may require counseling for years.

Short term rehab can make a difference in your parent's recovery from a cardiac event. These classes and rehab sessions are not an unnecessary waste of time. They are important to rewriting the bad habits that sometimes caused the heart problems in the first place.