AdventHealth Heart of Florida leaders and patients celebrated the opening of an expanded cardiac rehab unit on Tuesday, Aug. 13, doubling the number of patients that can be treated and reducing wait time before new patients can enroll in the program.
Before the expansion, the unit was treating an average of 56 patients a month. With the new space, the team will be able to double that volume and reduce the wait time before enrollment.
AdventHealth Heart of Florida’s Cardiac Rehab Unit has been working to help people recover and get on the road to a happier, healthier life through physical therapy, cardiac-friendly diets, smoking cessation, and more. Many of the patients in the program are older and live alone, so in addition to treating their bodies, the program also helps raise their spirits.
Dr. Ruth Borger, a retired member of the University of Florida’s Citrus Research Center, joined the cardiac rehab program at AdventHealth Heart of Florida in January 2024 after surviving a sudden cardiac arrest in a theme park parking lot in September 2023. The 67-year-old credits good Samaritans for performing CPR before she underwent triple bypass surgery. She praised the rehab staff for their attentive care and said the program improved her endurance, strength and balance.
“They were able to give me personalized, tailored coaching on what I should be doing and why it was important for me. I felt very cared for and felt very special that they were concerned about my health and recovery,” Borger said.
Borger completed the program, but she said she has been building on what she learned there as part of her efforts to continue to be healthy.
“I pretty much walk every day; I do strength training. So, I built on what they have taught me. It is not a one-time thing. It is part of my life now. I think by doing it so regularly, with proper coaching and guidance, it helps create those good habits and gives me the confidence to know I can do this. It has made a huge, huge difference in my physical recovery, but also in my emotional and mental health,” Borger said.
Clark spoke to the crowd on Tuesday.
“It’s a great day here at Heart of Florida,” said Clark. “We have been working very diligently to transform care in this community. I’ve been talking to a few of you while I’ve been here. The level of care that we are providing in the community has been elevated with AdventHealth in the community. That’s no different when we think about cardiology. As we do the ribbon cutting today for our new office suite and along with our current rehab space that we are investing in, this is Phase 1 of our plan to build out this space.”
“This is very important because it increases the access for patients to come in,” said Dr. Motaz Moussa. “It gives us more room so we can see more patients on a daily basis.”
“We can do all sorts of tests,” continued Moussa. “There’s the heart work and there’s the vascular work. Those are big ones for us. The heart work can be divided into two things. One is the heart muscle itself, which we call heart failure and the other one is coronary arteries, when people who have heart attacks have blockages, we take care of those as well. There’s a third part, which I do, is structural heart. So people who have valve issues. We can actually help with that. The vascular side is for people who have blockages in their legs, their aortas, or have ballooning of their aortic vessels that become dangerous. They can rupture at any time. We can take care of that as well.”
Dr. Moussa has been working at Heart of Florida just about a year.
“The clinic here – all the girls are amazing. The cath lab team – those guys are very good. All the staff are very, very good.
The unit is located at 40124 US HWY 27 in Davenport, on the second floor of the physician building and next door to the new AdventHealth Medical Group cardiologist suite. It will have eight stations dedicated to Cardiac Rehab patients that include: free weights, two treadmills, Nustep, leg press, lat pull, total upper body exerciser, and mid row machines. The unit will also be able to hold more classes with cardiac patients and the staff. This is phase one of the unit's expansion. AdventHealth plans to expand the unit further to add seven more spaces to care for patients.
Nationwide, The CDC says cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular disease mortality are increasing in working-age adults.
Cardiologists at AdventHealth Heart of Florida are also seeing more people dealing with heart disease and other cardiac issues.
According to the most recently available CDC data (https://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/maps/hd-stroke-mortality-dashboard.htm) , Polk County saw more than 109 heart disease deaths per 100,000 people, ages 35-64 in 2019. That ranked 36th among counties in Florida.
“We are thrilled that this phase of the expansion is complete, and we can now help even more patients recover and get healthier and stronger,” said Beverly Johnson, Manager of Non-invasive Cardiology at AdventHealth Heart of Florida. “This is all part of our on-going mission to provide exceptional whole-person care to members of our community.”
