Pulmonary Rehabilitation
What is Pulmonary Rehabilitation?
The Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program is a program of information, exercise training, and support designed specifically for people with COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease). Those with other pulmonary diseases may benefit from the program as well, so be sure to check with your physician if you have questions.
Our staff consists of licensed and specially trained respiratory therapists, nurses, and exercise physiologists.
Our Medical Director is Dr. Thomas Aiello, a board-certified pulmonary specialist.
This program is certified by AACVPR (American Association of Cardiovascular & Pulmonary Rehabilitation).
How does the program work?
The rehabilitation program consists of the following:
The Better Breathing Program is a series of classes designed to provide information about your pulmonary condition. The classes answer any questions and address any concerns you may have about your specific condition.
Some of the topics covered in class are:
- The causes of shortness of breath
- Breathing techniques to help reduce shortness of breath
- Medications for pulmonary conditions (puffers and pills)
- When to call your doctor for help
- How to prepare for travel
- Much more
The Pulmonary Exercise Program offers medically supervised exercise training. This will help improve your endurance and lessen the shortness of breath you experience with physical activities.
While exercising under our supervision, we monitor your heart rate, blood pressure, and oxygen levels.
Each participant’s exercise program is individualized. We start very slowly and progress gradually.
What are the benefits?
Our members enjoy the following benefits as a result of joining and participating in our program:
- More confidence about:
- who and when to call for assistance
- physical activity
- going out socially
- More endurance and less shortness of breath when performing daily activities
- Less anxiety and overall nervousness
- Less frequent visits to the doctor or emergency room
- Assistance and support with:
- losing weight
- gaining weight
- smoking cessation
How do I get started?
Ask your doctor for a referral if you feel you would qualify. Use our referral form (pdf) to give to your doctor. Once a referral is received, the rehab program will contact you to come in for a free initial evaluation to see how the staff can meet your needs and to make sure you are safe to enter the program; we will also check your insurance to determine coverage. After that, an appointment will be made to see the pulmonary rehab specialist for an initial visit and to have a self-paced walking assessment if you have not had one with your doctor already.