Prince George Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program participant Gaetano Mauro – photo 250News

Prince George, B.C. – Those in need of cardiac or pulmonary rehabilitation are in luck.

A new community partnership has been formed to improve that kind of care in Prince George.

Launched last month, the Prince George Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program, is a partnership between the Northern and Rural Cohort of the UBC Department of Physical Therapy, Northern Health, and the YMCA of Northern BC.

(The Northern and Rural Cohort consists of 20 Masters of Physical Therapy (MPT) students who do the majority of their clinical learning in Northern B.C. and rural communities across the province).

The program trains physiotherapy students while helping heart and lung patients increase their physical capacity.

It takes place at the YMCA and consists of individualized exercise programs, education, and its goal is to help patients recover from whatever ails them.

Robin Roots, coordinator of Clinical Education for the Northern and Rural Cohort, says each intake lasts eight weeks which is then followed up with an independent self management program that allows participants to carry on once the program is complete.

All of this at the nominal administrative cost of just $10.

“It’s really important to make this program accessible because most of this population, either they’re not working because of their condition or they’ve got a chronic condition that they have to manage and we do not want finances and transportation to be an issue.”

One person taking advantage of the program is 59 year old Gaetano Mauro, who recently joined after suffering a heart attack last year.

He says it’s made a big difference in his recovery. “I was basically flying blind since June when I had my event, so I didn’t really have any direction. I was just working on my own based on how I felt.”

Mauro says that’s all changed, “Just having a couple of sessions here and being able to track properly what I’m doing and what I’m not doing, it’s been beneficial.”

Dr. Haidar Hadi with Northern Health agrees. “It’s very important. It’s a one stop shop after you’ve had an intervention whereby you get exercise, you get an education, make sure you’re not smoking and making sure you’re on the right medication.”

Participants must receive a referral from their physician and take a stress test to take part.

Hadi says the new program follows an older program that died a few years ago. He says it was run by the YMCA but ended once the physical therapist in charge retired.