If you have recently experienced a heart attack, open-heart surgery or angioplasty, you probably have questions and worries about how to regain your strength and how to get your life back to the “new normal.”

Ellenville Regional Hospital has a full-service, community-based cardiac rehab team and facility to answer all your questions and to provide all the expert help you need. We support you by answering the important questions about your rehabilitation such as meeting goals, expectations, and general activities of your daily life. We have assembled a specialized team: a cardiac rehabilitation nurse, a physical therapist, a physician, a clinical dietitian, and a clinical pharmacist to help you manage your heart condition and work with you to restore your physical, psychological and vocational functioning. Equally important, we provide the help you need to prevent your heart disease from progressing.

After a cardiac event, it is important for you to improve your cardiovascular fitness – but to do it gradually with supervision and expert advice. Combined with lifestyle changes, we can help you get in better shape for a healthier future. We suggest you talk with your cardiologist or primary care provider as to whether this is right for you and then ask them for a referral to ERH Cardiac Rehab.

We work with you to complete your recovery, to prolong your life and make it more enjoyable. Over a 10 to 12-week period with education and exercise sessions three times a week, you gain a great sense of control and well-being and improve your strength and capacity.

Through education We encourage both you and your family to attend our education sessions. You can participate in your recovery, and learn to lead a heart-healthy lifestyle that benefits everyone. Success comes as you learn more about how the heart works, the big risk factors, how to manage stress, diet and smoking, when to resume physical and sexual activities, and how to manage your medications. We provide clear written material to reinforce the message of how to maintain a healthy heart for years to come.

Through exercise Our program of physical activity will improve your energy level and lift your spirits. Exercise also reduces the occurrence of future heart problems, including heart attack. You will attend professionally supervised exercise sessions three times a week, one hour per session for 10 to 12 weeks. You begin with a gentle warm-up period and use new and innovatively designed exercise equipment for aerobic activity:

• Landice treadmill
• SCIFIT Step One Recumbent Stepper
• Recumbent bicycles
• Water rower
• SCIFIT PRO 1000 UBE (Upper Body Exerciser)
• Recumbent elliptical

Each session concludes with a cool-down period. Activity is tracked with a heart monitor, and we offer a program of exercise for you to do at home.

Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. First-class is at 8 am and last class is at 12:30 pm

If you need additional medical services (such as a prescription for a cholesterol-lowering medication), we will work with your provider or refer you to our staff professionals.

Medicare and most major health insurers will pay for part of cardiac rehabilitation. If you cannot afford to pay, you may be eligible for our financial assistance program. Cardiac rehab is the best way to recover your strength and vitality and to prevent another cardiac event. We encourage you to consider taking part. To find out more about ERH Cardiac Rehab, call (845) 647-6400 ext. 292. Download the Physician Referral Form here, have it completed by your provider or cardiologist, and bring it to your first appointment.