Ryders Health offers advanced Heart Failure Program, reduces hospital time for patients

WATERFORD, Conn. (WTNH)– Heart Failure is one of the leading causes of hospitalization in older adults here in the United States. At Ryder’s Health, an advanced Heart Failure Program aims to minimize hospital time, maximize long-term health and to get patients back to their loved ones as quickly as possible.

“The program itself will monitor labs on patients twice weekly to make sure the kidney function is normal, the electrolytes are normal,” says Dr. Brian Ehrlich, heart failure cardiology coordinator for the program. “There is a heart failure nurse associated who’s actually my eyes and ears on the ground here. She’s here on a daily basis.”

Staff also measures daily weight and vital signs, provides specialized heart-healthy diets and offers rehabilitation exercise to get patients back to health.  

“This kind of program allows a patient to come out of a hospital setting and into a transitional setting where we can continue the same kind of care but in a different facility,” explains Dr. Ehrlich. “You can shorten the time patients are in the hospital.”

Each patient is given a Transitional Care Nurse, which Ryders Health Chief Clinical Officer William Boyce says sets this program apart.

“She or he is really dedicated towards that person that’s coming in to the Heart Failure Program,” Boyce explains. “They’re really looking at problems in the past that maybe have led them up to this point and how we can put transitional care interventions in place so that we can have them be successful once they return to the community.”

On average. patients are able to return to their homes between two and four weeks. 

Boyce adds there’s nothing better than seeing them leave healthier and happier than when they came.  

“We still stay in contact with a lot of the patients and family members,” he says. “They call us back months and years later to tell us how mom and dad are doing. There’s nothing like that satisfaction in the industry to me, with the transitional support and quality outcomes we’re able to provide.”

To learn more, visit rydershealth.com