Community Memorial Health System is proud to announce the certification of its Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program by the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation (AACVPR). This certification recognizes Community Memorial Health System’s (CMHS) commitment to improving patients’ quality of life by enhancing standards of care.
Pulmonary rehabilitation programs that include exercise, education, counseling and support for patients and their families help people with pulmonary problems so they can recover faster and live healthier.
CMHS serves patients with chronic lung diseases like COPD, asthma and pulmonary fibrosis, and offers the only Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program in Ventura County. Patients in the program receive exercise time and classroom time with book learning as well as learning from guest speakers like a physical therapist, occupational therapist, dieticians, and social services workers.
“As a respiratory care practitioner, it’s a really rewarding thing to see when patients walk in frightened and so breathless, and they walk out much more confident and able to do more. We facilitate, but they do the hard work,” said Juanita Trine, RRT-NPS, and the program’s Pulmonary Rehabilitation Coordinator.
To earn accreditation, CHMS’s Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program participated in an application process that required extensive documentation of the program’s practices. AACVPR Program Certification is the only peer-review accreditation process designed to review individual programs for adherence to standards and guidelines developed and published by AACVPR and other related professional societies. Each program’s application is reviewed by the AACVPR Program Certification Committee and certification is awarded by the association’s Board of Directors.
“Certification guarantees our patients that we are following best practices, nationwide, not just locally. We are looking closely at outcomes so we can say, ‘yes, our patients are feeling better’ when they leave us and we can say that with facts and figures to back us up,” Trine said.
Founded in 1985, the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation is a multidisciplinary organization dedicated to reducing morbidity, mortality and disability from cardiovascular and pulmonary disease through education, prevention, rehabilitation, research and disease management, and improving the quality of life for patients and their families.
