Forging Heart Healthy Habits with Active Home Health
Being heart healthy is a lifelong endeavor. Using home health for cardiac rehab helps establish the behaviors necessary for continued success.
According to the American Heart Association, “cardiac rehabilitation is a medically supervised program designed to improve your heart health after heart problems or surgery.” It involves patient education, changing health behaviors, reducing cardiovascular risk, and exercise training.
Anyone who has recently had any of the following are recommended to complete a cardiac rehabilitation program:
- Recent myocardial infarction (heart attack)
- Angina
- Congestive heart failure
- Peripheral artery disease
- Recent heart procedure or surgery
- Heart transplant
What is Cardiac Rehabilitation?
Usually completed over a 12-week period, cardiac rehab will start while in the hospital and transition to an outpatient setting after discharge. During the 12 weeks, you will focus on nutritional counseling, weight, blood pressure, lipid and diabetes management, tobacco cessation if applicable, stress management and exercise and physical activity training. 
A variety of medical professionals will be involved in your care including physicians, nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, and speech therapists.
Cardiac rehab can’t change the past. It does help you take control of your heart’s future health. Some of the benefits from cardiac rehab include a reduction in secondary mortality due to cardiovascular disease, improved cardiovascular function, slowed or even halted progression of atherosclerotic disease, and an overall improved quality of life.
Cardiac Rehabilitation with Active Home Health
Despite the proven benefit that cardiac rehabilitation provides, more than 80% of eligible patients in the United States do not participate. Older age and the inability to drive have been cited as two of the most common factors. Cardiac rehabilitation with Active Home Health can bring these benefits to you or a loved one from the comfort of your home.
Active Home Health’s team of nurses and therapists focus on 5 target behaviors. These are smoking cessation, medication adherence, stress management, healthy eating, and physical activity. Some of the ways that we will do this are through:
- Medication education and management
- Vital sign monitoring
- Education and management of cholesterol, diabetes and blood pressure
- Stress coping strategies
- Diet education
- Personalized exercise program
- Gradual increase in exercise tolerance
- Developing compensation techniques for daily tasks during rehab
- Home safety evaluation
- Smoking cessation education and encouragement, if needed
Some of the benefits that you will see with Active Home Health’s Cardiac Rehabilitation include:
- Improved exercise capacity
- Decreased body mass index
- Better control over blood pressure, blood sugars and cholesterol levels
- Decreased levels of anxiety and depression
- Improved quality of life
- Decreased reoccurrence of cardiovascular events, like another heart attack
- Reduced hospitalizations
- Decreased healthcare costs
- Decreased risk of mortality
Why Choose Active Home Health for Cardiac Rehab?
For those living with heart disease, being heart healthy is a lifelong endeavor. Cardiac rehabilitation is the most clinically proven and cost effective way to incorporate important lifestyle changes in your day to day routine. Cardiac rehabilitation with Active Home Health helps establish the behaviors necessary for continued success. We enable you to begin rehabbing in the comfort of your home, helping you to regain cardiac function and prevent future complications. If you or a loved one have recently had some form of heart injury, give us a call today. Experience for yourself how our cardiac rehabilitation program can restore you back to your active lifestyle.
