Fallbrook Hospital Cardiac Rehab closed due to low demand?

This is the excuse offered by hospital management in a statement Dec. 3. In my opinion, it is a deceitful reconfiguration of facts with which to cover the real objective of CHS management – squeeze more profit out of the operation of our little hospital.

If the hospital CEO had visited cardiac rehab in action, he would have seen about 25 patients, half dozen nurses and assistants, and at least one volunteer to teach mobility classes. This is only one of three sections – with a total of about 75 persons.

Cardiac rehab was established by nurses in 1993 (pre-CHS) and has saved many lives, not only through the beneficial effects of regular cardio exercise but in the actual detection and redirection by health staff of conditions that make exercise counter to safety.

The CHS statement obviously takes none of this into account. Furthermore, it is a cover-up for CHS’ failure to market cardiac rehab to hospitals more than 25 miles from Fallbrook who have cardio patients living in or near Fallbrook. Then there’s the non-disclosure that the demand referred to is only for Phase 2 rehab. There was and is no decline in demand for Phase 3 cardiac rehab.

This dissembling may fool ‘em back in Tennessee, but not in Fallbrook.

John Watson