Hi, my name is Christine. I am the lead nurse at Tahoe Forest Health System’s Intensive Cardiac Rehabilitation. If you’re not familiar, there is a small gym inside Tahoe Forest Hospital in Truckee. We have a variety of programs there. We have a wonderful cardiac rehab program, a pulmonary rehab program, and then a nurse-supervised, hospital-based community exercise program known as heart to heart.
Cardiac rehab is a referral-based program. Our cardiac rehab patients are with us anywhere from 12 to 18 weeks. They come 3 days a week for an hour of exercise and an hour of education. So that education is focused on heart-healthy nutrition, and then they also learn some tools to manage stress and moods.
Pulmonary rehab is also a referral-based program, designed to help people with chronic lung disease to manage symptoms and get regular exercise, as well as improve their quality of life.
And then there’s our heart-to-heart exercise program. It’s 5 days a week, Monday through Friday, in the morning. The times vary, though, based on the day. All of these exercise programs are guided by an exercise physiologist, as well as myself or another nurse. Our clients get their cardio in doing sprints and hill climbs, and then we always do some kind of strength training in the classes, whether it be dumbbells, long bands, mini bands, Pilates balls, or body weight. It helps keep people moving and active and keep their strength up.
But the real hidden gem of these programs are the social connections that are made. It is these social connections that keep people coming back to cardiac rehab every week. Yes, they love the exercise and the guidance, but really they enjoy their community of people that they get to exercise with 3 days a week.
The community that’s formed in cardiac rehab really creates a lot of joy for myself as well. I love coming to work. I love the community members that I’ve gotten to know and the relationships that I’ve built in there. It’s just such a joy of a place to be in and work in.
