For the fourth time, the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation (AACVPR) has certified the cardiovascular rehabilitation program at Tomah Health.
Hospital cardiac rehabilitation coordinator Shana Steele, MS, RCEP, CCRP, CSCS, EIM3, said the certification continues to be a highly regarded standard. “This is an outstanding achievement for our hospital and patients in our community,” said Steele, who is also a registered clinical exercise physiologist. “Certification is truly the gold standard for us.”
The hospital’s Cardiac Rehabilitation program was created in 1990 and has been certified every three years dating back to the first certification in 2013. “Our goal is to provide the best patient care possible and being awarded AACVPR program certification demonstrates our commitment to the area and to our patients in improving their overall health and well-being,” said Steele.
As part of the certification process, Steele said her staff participated in an application process that required extensive documentation to evaluate the program components and outcomes. “We are happy to say that our patient satisfaction scores are very high and we are appreciative that our patients speak so highly of their care and have an excellent program so close to home,” she said.
Cardiac Rehabilitation at Tomah Health is a medically supervised outpatient exercise program designed to provide comprehensive care to people who have recently experienced a cardiac event like a heart attack, coronary artery angioplasty or stents, open heart surgery such as coronary artery bypass graft or valve surgery, stable angina, heart transplant or heart failure. “Our program promotes healthy lifestyle changes to manage and prevent heart and vascular risk factors by educating on exercise, nutrition, weight loss, stress management and tobacco cessation,” Steele explained. “In addition, our team works with patients to improve their cardiovascular strength and endurance, and enhance their overall health and quality of life, while providing a support network for the patient and their family.”
Steele said her staff is now working on certifying its recently added pulmonary rehabilitation program, which should take place sometime next year.
AACVPR Program Certification is the only peer-review accreditation process designed to review individual programs for adherence to standards and guidelines developed and published by AACVPR and other professional societies. Each program is reviewed by the AACVPR Program Certification Committee and Certification is awarded by the AACVPR board of directors.
In 2018, AACVPR moved to an outcomes-based process with performance measurements that represent outcomes that are more meaningful. Therefore, AACVPR-certified programs are leaders in the cardiovascular and pulmonary rehabilitation field because they offer the most advanced practices available and have proven track records of high quality patient care. AACVPR Program Certification is valid for three years.
Founded in 1985, the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation is a multidisciplinary organization dedicated to the mission of reducing morbidity, mortality and disability from cardiovascular and pulmonary disease through education, prevention, rehabilitation, research and disease management. Central to the core mission is improvement in quality of life for patients and their families. Learn more about AACVPR at www.AACVPR.org.