Wellness Center

Cardiac Rehabilitation

Emory Decatur Hospital’s Cardiac Rehabilitation program, offered within the hospital’s Wellness Center, is a multifaceted process that uses a combination of prescribed exercise, wellness education and lifestyle changes to reduce the risk of heart failure and heart disease. Our cardiac rehabilitation services are designed to improve your quality of life when you have a heart attack or other heart conditions. Program goals include:

• Improved exercise ability
• Reduced cardiac symptoms
• Positive psychosocial well-being

Cardiac rehab participants are referred to the program by their physicians after recovering from a heart attack, valve repair or replacement, bypass surgery, cardiomyopathy, angioplasty, heart failure, heart transplant or stable angina. Speak with your physician about making a referral. The length of a patient’s rehabilitation participation is determined by the patient’s individual needs. Patients remain under the supervision of their physicians throughout the Atlanta-based cardiac rehab program to ensure the highest-quality of service and to reduce the risk of heart failure. Our cardiac rehab staff will be happy to verify your insurance for cardiac and pulmonary rehab coverage.

Benefits of Cardiac Rehabilitation:

• Increases the chance of avoiding disability
• Improves your ability to return to work sooner
• Decreases the risk of a recurrence of the heart problem that brought the patient to rehab
• Decreases risk of sudden death due to heart disease
• Decreases risk of future heart attack or heart failure
• Reduces number of episodes of reduced blood flow to the heart, known as cardiac ischemia
• Improves physical functioning and strength
• Lowers blood pressure
• Decreases levels of triglycerides and LDL, or "bad" cholesterol
• Increases levels of HDL, or “good” cholesterol

What to Expect at Cardiac Rehab

Emory Decatur Hospital provides a healthy, positive atmosphere that will help you reduce the risk of heart failure and heart risk factors, increase exercise tolerance and encourage lifestyle changes. We will develop an exercise program specifically for you, and we will monitor you every minute you are exercising. Our pulmonary and cardiac rehab programs have a fully-trained staff who will teach you to use a wide variety of exercise equipment including treadmills, stationary bikes, Airdyne bikes, an arm ergometer and recumbent stepper. You will also learn how to measure your exercise exertion using the RPE exertion scale.

Collaboration with the Wellness Center

Emory Decatur Hospital’s Cardiac Rehabilitation participants have the opportunity to utilize the Wellness Center while participating in Phase 2 and may join upon completion from cardiac rehabilitation. The Wellness Center is Georgia’s first certified medical fitness center and is open to the community.

For more information, contact us at 404-501-7155.

Direction to the Cardiac/Pulmonary Rehabilitation Center

Cardiac Rehabilitation/Pulmonary Rehabilitation is located at Emory Decatur Hospital on the ground floor of the 2665 Professional Building in The Wellness Center. GPS or Google: 2665 North Decatur Road, Decatur, GA 30033. (Please note that the mailing address is 2701 North Decatur Road but the physical address is 2665.)

The 2665 Professional Building is the building closest to North Decatur Road. The 2675 Professional Building is next to it, higher on the hill and closer to the main hospital. The entire campus is connected via underground hallways.

Parking Directions

The Wellness Center – in which we are located - will validate your parking ticket from two surface lots near the building or the parking deck. During inclement weather, use the deck and stay dry in our underground tunnel system (see Walking Directions below). Please note: The Wellness Center cannot validate valet parking tickets or parking tickets from the Dr. Bobbie Bailey Women’s and Surgery Center.

Lower Surface Lot:
From North Decatur Road, enter the lower surface lot from the main hospital driveway. To exit the lower lot, you must drive around the building (inside the lot) and exit from the upper surface lot on Rufus Evans Drive. There are 10 special reserved parking spaces for Cardiac Rehabilitation/Pulmonary Rehabilitation patients in the lower surface lot only. If these are taken, park in any available space in the lots or deck.

Upper Surface Lot:
From North Decatur Road, turn into the hospital driveway and continue past the lower lot entrance, up the hill toward the main hospital; turn right at the stop sign onto Rufus Evans Drive. Pass the valet parking entrance to the 2675 Professional Building on your right. Turn right into the upper surface lot. You will exit the upper lot at this same location.

From Sycamore Street, enter the campus on Rufus Evans Drive and turn left into the upper surface lot. You will exit the upper lot at this same location.

Note: The line to exit the surface lots can be long at various times during the day. If you find that your regular visits occur at one of these times, please use the parking deck.

Frequently Asked Questions