King of Hearts – 2008
From Blackford Community Hospital
Hartford City, Indiana

This nomination for King of Hearts is one with complete admiration for the patient whom you are about to hear his story. William Ladd is a 73 year old cardiac rehabilitation patient. He has participated in cardiac rehabilitation since having an angioplasty and stent procedure in January 2004. Just five months later in June 2oo4, Mr. Ladd underwent quadruple coronary artery bypass surgery. Within a few weeks, Mr. Ladd seemed to bounce back from the surgery with the help of determination and continued participation in Cardiac Rehabilitation. While until now his story took place in another facility, in January 2005, Mr. Ladd transferred to our program when it opened in his hometown. In August of 2005, Mr. Ladd had to have a carotid endarterectomy. He continued to participate in exercise and still had a drive that would outlast most of his peer group. He has always been determined to keep active and walking on the treadmill. In early 2007, William was told that he had a spot on his lung that needed additional testing. After a couple of attempts at unsuccessful needle biopsies, Mr. Ladd has a lung biopsy done that showed he was cancer-free!! He has continued to show determination to meet his goals in many ways. At the beginning of the summer of 2007, he decided that he was going to ride his bicycle to his son’s house 87 miles from his home before the end of the summer. Mr. Ladd met his goal on November 10, 2007 riding his bicycle to his son’s home in Delphi, Indiana. It has been a pleasure to watch this patient pursue his goals with such determination and he has been an inspiration to the rest of our Phase III cardiopulmonary rehabilitation patients. He is truly the “King of Hearts” in our book.

Submitted by Sarah Seward

Queen of Hearts - 2008
From Hux Cardiovascular Center – Union Hospital
Terre Haute, Indiana

Our Queen nomination this year is Susie. She is a 48 year old patient with a history of CABG, CHF, MI, prior PTCA/stent, PVD, abdominal aortic stent. She smoked more that 20 cigarettes per day since her early teens. Her EF was 35% and she suffered from HTN and COPD. She had no transportation to rehab, so she either walked 6 blocks or rode a bike in all kinds of weather. She has now quit smoking. She was very compliant with all of her cardiac medications and attendance to rehab. The initial stress test lasted for 3 minutes and her final stress test lasted for 6 minutes 11 seconds increasing to 7 METS. She inspired other female patients by demonstrating such determination with incredible odds against her to be in our Cardiac Rehab program. We are proud to have her set such a motivating example.

Submitted by Carla Reineohl

Pulmonary Patient of the Year
From LaPorte Hospital and Health Services
LaPorte, Indiana

Sharon Dolan is a 59 year old female with severe COPD and is oxygen and steroid dependent. She has had repeated hospitalizations with the same diagnosis for the past 2 years. She has smoked 2 ½ packs of cigarettes per day for more than 45 years. Her last hospitalization was January 18, 2006 for exacerbation of COPD. She was in the hospital for one week and was discharged to our Continuing Care Center Nursing Home for one week. She was ordered to have Pulmonary Rehab from our COPD pathway. When she was first seen in the hospital to discuss enrollment in pulmonary rehab, she stated “I can’t do that. I will never be able to do that”.

Sharon started Pulmonary Rehab March 5, 2007, and was given Center for Better Breathing training. Her first exercise sessions she performed the 6-minuite walk test for 537 feet. She was able to walk on the treadmill for only 4 minutes at 0.7 mph and the Nustep for 15 minutes. Saturations were 93-95% on 3 liters of nasal canula oxygen. Her final visit she was able to tolerate 50 to 60 minutes of exercise and had started lifting hand weights. Her 6-minute walk test had improved to 683 feet. Sharon was pleased with her progress while in rehab and actually became teary eyed when she had to graduate. She obviously came a long way from the above statement of “I can’t do that” because she had demonstrated that she could.
Sharon came to enjoy exercise and looked forward to coming to rehab. She made many friends and had given all the rehab staff nicknames. She was an avid seamstress and enjoyed making greeting cards on her home computer. Sharon gave each of the staff a personal homemade birthday gift and card. She also hand made the department a cap for rehab graduations that had an interchangeable heart and lung tassel.

Sharon still keeps in touch with staff. She has remained smoke-free and is elated she has remained out of the hospital for almost 1 year. We are pleased to nominate Mrs. Sharon Dolan for our candidate for Pulmonary Patient of the Year.