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Late
in 1987 the Wairarapa Branch of the Heart Foundation learned about a
Cardiac Rehabilitation programme held at Hutt Hospital. This
programme was run by Cardiologist Dr. Robert Logan. A
physiotherapist, Charge Nurse Molly Kainuku, Harry Walsh and Len
Frances travelled to Hutt Hospital to study the Cardiac
Rehabilitation Programme. After a second visit, a pilot Cardiac
Rehabilitaion Programme was begun at Masterton Hospital in 1988 led
by Molly Kainuku and Len Frances. The sessions were held in the day
room of Ward Three of Masterton Hospital and because the staff of
Ward Three did their change over in the day room the Rehab programme
was unwelcome. Chairs had to be borrowed from
patient rooms in the ward. Harry Walsh was at that time the
purchasing officer at Masterton Hospital and he assisted the
programme by making cups etc available so attendees could have a cup
of tea or coffee. George McKinley came on board and he, with Len
Frances assisted the sessions for many years. Len has been involved
with the Programme since its inception and has now been involved
with it for 20 years. These
days the Rehabilitation programme is held in the Staff Development
building at Wairarapa Hospital. In
December 2007, Len Frances retired from the rehab programme.
Thankyou Len for your invaluable contribution. The
photograph shows June Roseingrave presenting Len with an azalea on
his last day. Since
2003, Eric Edwards has assisted Len Frances in setting up the room
for the programme and Eric will continue where Len left off. Wally
Aldridge came on board to help Eric in January 2008. During 2008 computer based
powerpoint presentations began to be used which changed the way
sessions were delivered. Following on from this, Wairarapa Branch of
the Heart Foundation bought a computer and data projector in March
of 2009 for use in the Rehab sessions. Having our own computer has
meant that all videos and all presentations were able to be loaded
onto the computer making it easier to run the sessions. Now
everything is at the Nurses' fingertips. In
June 2009, Wally handed over to Kerry Flannery. Thank you Wally for
your help and continuing support and welcome Kerry.
Over the years the Rehab Sessions have been honed and fine tuned to the point where improvements are not obvious, but we keep looking! During 2010 two small changes were made. We bought an urn to keep the morning tea water at boiling point. Tea pots were used and we found that when the last person came for a cuppa that the water was no longer hot enough. With the urn, everyone gets a piping hot cup of tea or coffee.
Lapel labels with the attendee's name were written in the same colour. While this was good, the presenters could not tell at first glance who were patients and who were supporters so we now get patients to write their label in red ink and supporters to write theirs in blue. This also helps our Cardiac Nurse with attendance recording.
Up to the end of 2010 Rehab Sessions were held on Tuesdays. Because of pressure on the meeting rooms we changed to Thursdays commencing in February 2011. This has meant for our presenters and patients a more relaxed atmosphere allowing patients to remain after the session for a chat.
Kerry Flannery left for Australia in March 2011 to get another opinion on her health issues which are ongoing for her, returning to assist in the Rehab sessions in July 2011. Welcome back Kerry!
Owing to personal problems, Eric handed over support for the Rehab sessions to Kerry in September 2011.
History of Cardiac
Rehabilitation in Wairarapa
