By Ryan Berry

DailyAdvocate.com

GREENVILLE — Wayne HealthCare’s Cardiac Rehab is celebrating 10 years of helping patients recover from cardiac events.

Sheila Voisard, RN, cardiac rehab specialist, has been with Wayne HealthCare’s Cardiac Rehab unit for three of the 10 years, but began her career working with cardiac patients at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Dayton many years ago. She sees the difference cardiac rehabilitation makes compared to the treatment patients received when she first started.

Today, cardiac patients spend less time in the hospital and approximately three months going through the rehabilitation process. Voisard said when she first became an RN, patients would spend over a week in the hospital and the extent of the rehabilitation was getting them up and walking down the hallway. Today, patients spend a few days in the hospital, but already have their first appointment with the Cardiac Rehab unit scheduled before they leave the hospital. They typically see patients that have had open heart surgery, valve replacement or a heart attack.

Voisard said the patients make Wayne HealthCare’s Cardiac Rehab special. “When you see the improvement in the patients and the ability for them to improve over time,” she said. “You can see the great increase from when they first started and see the progression over time. They want to be here. They are happy to be here, and they enjoy the exercise.”

Karla Watercutter, RN, cardia rehab specialist, has been with Wayne HealthCare’s Cardiac Rehab unit since it opened 10 years ago, and agreed with Voisard. She said, “The patients are enjoyable. They are fun to work with. It is fun to watch them improve.” According to Watercutter, it was one of their first patients that set the mindset for the unit. Watercutter said the patient said, “People in the same boat tend to row the same way.” She believes it is good for people to be around other people with heart disease. There is camaraderie and emotional support in that group.

Since moving to the new addition nearly four years ago, the Cardiac Rehab unit has been able to expand its assistance to more patients. Voisard said, “This piece is great. It gives us more room. We have more capability of doing more patients. We have the capability of doing 11 cardiac rehab patients per session. We could take up to 33 patients in a day’s time.”

Even after their rehabilitation sessions, the staff sees some patients come in for regular maintenance. “They come here because they feel safe because there is medical staff here. There is easy access to medical care if something should happen to them,” said Voisard.

For Voisard who has worked in several areas in the hospital, including the emergency room and outpatient surgery, she really enjoys what they are able to accomplish in Cardiac Rehab. “I really enjoy this part. I think this is where I’ll be ending my career at.”

The staff is able to get know the patients and, according to Voisard, “They become like family to us. We treat them like family.”

Patients are surprised by the amount of work they need to put in during the rehabilitation process, but Voisard explained that it is a whole-body recovery. Not only do they work with the physical body, but they also work with patients emotionally and mentally.

Watercutter added, “We can measure numbers and speed and resistance, but it is really about getting the patient back to the quality of life before the procedure. Getting them back to work, getting them back to farming, getting them back to their activities of daily living. That’s really where the biggest impact comes for us is if a patient can get back to what they want to do or learn to cope with what they can’t do anymore.”

To contact Daily Advocate Editor Ryan Berry, email [email protected].