Cardiac rehabilitation is provided at Auckland City Hospital to support, educate and assist the patient, spouse, partner, whānau and family following an acute cardiac event.

Actively engaging in Cardiac Rehabilitation has been shown to significantly reduce further cardiac events, hospital admission and also improve quality of life for you and your family.

Phase I consists of the information, education and support a patient receives at the bedside in hospital to aid understanding of heart disease, also providing information on how risk factors can be modified. This assists towards self-care, physical and psychological recovery.

Phase 2 Cardiac Education Programme

The Phase 2 Cardiac Education Programme has a multi-disciplinary approach and is held over four weeks (two hours per week) either at Mt Albert YMCA or Auckland University, Merton Rd, Glen Innes.

Topics covered are:

• Risk factors for heart disease
• Impact of cardiac event – emotional reactions following a cardiac event
• Healthy eating habits
• Supermarket tour – food label reading, session given by cardiac rehab nurse specialists
• Medications/Drugs
• Exercise for heart health
• What to do in an emergency, basic cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)
• Meet the cardiologist Your questions answered

Chinese Programme

When numbers are available, a two-hour education session is run in conjunction with an interpreter for Chinese patients and the cardiac rehab nurse specialist. When there are more than two patients that speak Mandarin or Cantonese these sessions are held at various times throughout the year at Greenlane Clinical Centre.

Phase 2 Exercise Programme Offered

Auckland Cardiac Rehabilitation Clinic (ACRC) by Auckland University

Programme runs 3 times a week for 3 months

YMCA Mt Albert and Green Lane Clinical Centre Gym

Programme runs 2 times a week for 8 weeks

Each patient requires approval to exercise by a cardiologist before referral to an exercise programme. Each patient is risk stratified and assessed individually at the Greenlane Clinical Centre. This includes a six-minute walk test, undertaken by the physiotherapist or the cardiac rehab nurse specialists.

Who to contact:

Cardiac Rehabilitation Nurse Specialists:

Susan Reed              09 307 4949 ext 27864             Wendy Marshall      09 307 4949 ext 27865

Cathy Gasparini       09 307 4949 ext 29270