CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas —
The CDC reports that every year, over 805,000 people have a heart attack. That's one heart attack every 40 seconds.
Dr. Thomas Alexander with Corpus Christi Medical Center says it's what a patient does after their cardiac episode that can determine their prognosis.
As the medical director of cardiology, he said their new cardiac rehabilitation center will help move the hospital's mission of improving patients' lives forward.
“People who get cardiac rehab after a heart attack or bypass surgery are less likely to die over time,” Alexander said. “So, 15% less deaths in a year and when you follow these people who had cardiac rehab, even for a short period of time, up to 45% less deaths in 15 years."
Understanding the importance of cardiac rehab is why Corpus Christi Medical Center has decided to open their brand-new cardiac rehabilitation center at their Doctors Regional campus.
The center will offer three phases of rehabilitation for recovery: inpatient, outpatient and maintenance.
“The new center is state of the art. It has treadmills, ergometers and is going to deliver state of the art care. It's going to be a huge benefit for our patients," he said.
The rehab center is a medically supervised program that will not only include exercise training, but also nutrition education and stress reduction practices.
Dr. Alexander says these new rehab resources are beneficial for patients as they can stabilize, slow and even reverse the progression of a patient's cardiovascular disease.
“Patients who receive cardiac rehab are more likely to go back to regular activities much earlier than people who don't.” he said. “They are compliant with the medications and feel better overall and it's a huge benefit for them.”
Corpus Christi Medical Center's new cardiac rehab facility is now open and accepting new patients. For more information, click here or call 361-761-2790.