Heritage Medical Center’s comprehensive pulmonary rehabilitation program is well known for providing targeted, personalized care to patients. Our program works with a variety of patients, including those severely debilitated by pulmonary illnesses.

People with illnesses such as emphysema, chronic bronchitis and asthma often lose their ability to function normally. If you are coping with such a disease, you may have noticed that wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath and fatigue can make your everyday tasks seem more difficult. These symptoms can interfere with walking, climbing stairs, performing household chores and even taking a shower. Seeing your physician regularly and taking prescribed medications can help control your symptoms and a comprehensive pulmonary rehabilitation program may enhance your quality of life and even help reverse some of the disabling effects of your pulmonary disease.

Patients with limited pulmonary function due to respiratory disease are candidates for pulmonary rehabilitation. For greatest success, patients should be self-motivated and committed to participation.

The following conditions are appropriate for pulmonary rehabilitation:
• COPD
• Asthma
• Asthmatic bronchitis
• Chronic bronchitis
• Emphysema
• Bronchiectasis
• Cystic fibrosis
• Interstitial fibrosis
• Rheumatoid pulmonary disorders
• Collagen vascular disease
• Pneumoconiosis
• Sarcoidosis
• Kyphoscoliosis
• Severe obesity
• Pulmonary vascular disease
• Lung resection
• Lung transplantation
• Occupational or environmental lung disease
• Lung reduction surgery

Program Information
Heritage Medical Center's outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation program meets twice a week for 12-18 weeks, depending on insurance coverage. Each one-hour session uses education and exercise to:
• Help reduce respiratory symptoms
• Optimize your capability of performing daily activities
• Address the psychological and physical aspects of everyday living with respiratory disease.

The program’s coordinator is a registered respiratory therapist who, under the direction of a physician specializing in pulmonology, will help you establish an individualized exercise program to attain your goals for rehabilitation.

Entering the Program
To enter the program, participants must have a referral from their primary physician.
Before beginning the program, participants are required to complete:
• A low-level stress test (to evaluate current physical ability)
• Pulmonary function test (to determine lung capacity) See information below on Pulmonary Function Testing

These tests need to be ordered by the primary physician or specialist at the time of referral.

Exercise Conditioning
An individualized exercise program is designed for each patient. All exercises are performed with continuous monitoring of arterial oxygen saturation and cardiac activity. A gradual increase in exercise is emphasized, with formal goal setting. Exercises may include:
• Aerobic conditioning
• Strength and flexibility exercises
• Breathing retraining
• Daily living exercises

When You Complete the Program
Participants will be encouraged to continue their exercise plans at home or continue in our extension program for a minimal fee. Lifestyle changes such as daily walks, breathing exercises and proper nutrition planning will continue to help clients control their disease.

Costs
Most insurance companies, including Medicare, Blue Cross and HMOs, will cover the cost of this program. However, participants are encouraged to inquire if their personal insurance plan covers these expenses. There may be a co-pay depending on the insurance plan.

Lung Function Tests
Lung function tests (also called pulmonary function tests, or PFTs) evaluate how well your lungs work. The tests determine how much air your lungs can hold, how quickly you can move air in and out of your lungs, and how well your lungs put oxygen into and remove carbon dioxide from your blood. The tests can diagnose lung diseases; measure the severity of lung problems, and check to see how well treatment for a lung disease is working.

Spirometry is the first and most commonly done lung function test. It measures how much and how quickly you can move air out of your lungs. For this test, you breathe into a mouthpiece attached to a recording device (spirometer). The information collected by the spirometer may be printed out on a chart called a spirogram.

How Are Tests Interpreted?
An individual's lung function test results are interpreted by comparing them to the results predicted for a person of the same sex, age, height, and race. PFTs are also interpreted by pulmonologists.

Why the Test is preformed.

Pulmonary Function tests are done to:
• Diagnose certain types of lung disease (especially bronchial restrictive airway disease, bronchitis and emphysema)
• Find the cause of shortness of breath
• Measure whether exposure to contaminants at work affects lung function

It also can be performed to:
• Assess the effect of medication
• Measure progress in disease treatment

Pulmonary function tests offered at Heritage Medical Center:
• Basic Spirometry
• Methacholine Challenge

Full Pulmonary Function Test to include:
• Pre/Post Bronchodilator
• DLCO
• Lung Volumes (Nitrogen Washout)

Other Outpatient tests offered:
• Arterial Blood Gas Analysis
• Pulse Oximetry

For more information about Heritage Medical Center's Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program, call 931-685-8730.