Cardiac Rehab gets boost from HH5K

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Rumford Hospital employees, Tammy Berry and Dan Elliott, cardiac rehab nurses, Robin Gilbert, nursing supervisor and Sharon Gates, cardiac rehab nurse, are all seen here with Sandra Witas of River Valley Healthy Communities Coalition. (Times photo by Cherri Crockett)

RUMFORD- The Rumford Hospital Cardiac Rehab clinic is the 2012 recipient of the funds raised during the River Valley Healthy Communities Coalition’s 2nd Annual Healthy Hearts 5K that was held in May. They are expected to receive approximately $1800 from the community event that drew more than 150 men, women and children, not to mention the dozens of volunteers and sponsors.
“We’re all putting together our wish list,” noted Sharon Gates, a cardiac rehab nurse at Rumford Hospital. “We have our eye on a new piece of equipment that will allow us to better serve the cardiac and pulmonary patients we work with.”
The nursing team has anywhere from three to ten cardiac and pulmonary patients they work with on a daily basis. Their regime consists of walking and running on a treadmill, cycling on a stationary bike, doing warm ups and cool downs with weights, as well as various sitting and standing exercises.
Each participant wears a heart monitor, and a television screen displays their individual telemetry so that the nurses can keep a close eye on the activity level of each patient.
“It’s amazing to see where some of our patients start and what they’re capable of by the end of the program,” noted Dan Elliott, cardiac nurse. “They’re either just back on their feet from a heart attack or they’ve been diagnosed with lung disease. They don’t know what they’re capable of doing until they come in here and we get them on a routine.”
For more information on the Cardiac Rehab Clinic at Rumford Hospital, visit www.rumfordhospital.com, or if you would like more information on River Valley Healthy Communities Coalition, visit www.rvhcc.org.