Is Cardiac Rehab Right for Your Senior?

A heart attack is a life-changing moment. This is a serious medical emergency that can have lasting effects for your senior’s health, both physical and emotional. As soon as your parent suffers this type of medical event, you must plan for treatment and management of their heart health moving forward. This might include the doctor recommending cardiac rehabilitation. It is important to remember that not all treatment options are right for everyone, and that it is vital to work with your parent and their doctor to make the decisions that are right for them. This starts with understanding what cardiac rehab is and what it can mean for your parent.

The goal of cardiac rehab is to improve cardiac health after a serious health issue such as a heart attack or heart failure. There are three primary elements to this type of care, including:

• Support for exercise. Getting physically active is extremely important for improving and maintaining heart health. This can be frightening for an elderly adult who has recently experienced a heart attack, especially if they have not been active before. Rehab will include counseling and training in what type of exercise to perform and how much
• Heart-healthy education. Many people are not aware of what it takes to keep their heart healthy. Rehab will include education regarding issues such as personal risk factors, the importance of quitting smoking and how to quit, nutrition guidance, and more
• Stress reduction. Stress can be extremely hard on the heart, especially one that is already damaged. Cardiac rehab will include counseling to help reduce stress and protect your parent from the damaging effects while supporting better mental and emotional health and well-being

Ensure for your parent that if there’s a heart attack, the top priority in their house is helping them to prevent another one. Seniors who have suffered a heart attack are at high risk of facing another. Each subsequent heart attack has a much higher risk of more severe complications and lasting consequences, making improving heart health and reducing risk critical to your parent’s ongoing health and well-being. Elderly care can help them to accomplish this goal and improve their overall quality of life. An elderly home care services provider can give your senior a wide range of customizable services specifically designed to help them deal with their health in ways that are right for them, pursue independence and autonomy, and encourage finding meaning and fulfillment in their daily life. As a family caregiver, this can make you feel more confident and reduce your stress as you manage the needs of caring for a loved one.

https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/cardiac-rehab

IF YOU ARE CONSIDERING IN-HOME ELDERLY CARE IN CLIVE, IA, FOR AN ELDERLY LOVED ONE, CONTACT GOLDEN HEART SENIOR CARE OF DES MOINES, IA AT 515-631-5033. OUR CARING STAFF CAN ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS!