Cardiac Rehab in Des Moines, IA
Ask About a PlaceWho We Take
Referral usually comes from your cardiologist, pulmonologist or primary care physician — but you can call us directly and we'll help arrange it.
Thirteen Years on Grand Avenue
Fernway opened in 2013 as an outpatient cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation unit, sited deliberately in the middle of Des Moines rather than on a hospital campus.
That sounds like a small thing and it isn't. Attendance is the entire problem in this field — the treatment works, and most eligible people never complete it. Parking at the door, a 6:30am session, a room that doesn't feel like a ward, and staff who ring you when you miss a week: those are the interventions that actually get people through thirty-six sessions.
Every exercise session is supervised by a clinician with telemetry running, and there is a physician-led emergency protocol we rehearse quarterly. In thirteen years we have never had to use it in earnest, which is the point of having it.
- ✓Telemetry on every exercise session
- ✓Physician-led emergency protocol, rehearsed quarterly
- ✓6:30am and evening sessions, parking at the door
- ✓We call you if you miss a week
What Thirty-Six Sessions Actually Looks Like
Twice or three times a week, about an hour each, over roughly twelve weeks.
Assessment and a Walk Test
History, medications, a six-minute walk test and — where appropriate — a symptom-limited exercise test. That gives us your starting capacity and your safe training zone, in numbers.
The First Fortnight, Cautiously
Short intervals, low intensity, telemetry running and a lot of reassurance. Most people are surprised how little they can do at first and how quickly that changes.
Building the Dose
Aerobic work rising toward thirty minutes continuous, resistance training added from around week three, and re-tested at week six. This is where the numbers move.
Education Alongside
Twenty minutes each session: medication, diet, warning signs, stress, sex after a cardiac event, returning to work. Partners are welcome and we'd rather they came.
Discharge and Maintenance
A repeat walk test, a written home programme, a letter to your cardiologist — and an offer of the maintenance programme, because the gains fade if you stop.
From Discharge to First Session
Call Us, or We'll Call You
Most referrals arrive from the hospital or your cardiologist. If yours hasn't, ring us and we'll contact them — you do not have to chase this yourself.
We Gather the Records
Discharge summary, medication list, test results and any restrictions. Usually done before you set foot in the building.
Assessment Appointment
About ninety minutes. Walk test, measurements, goals, and a proper conversation about what frightens you — because for most people something does.
Your Sessions Are Booked
A fixed slot, the same days each week, with the same small group. Consistency is most of what makes people finish.
Thirteen Years of People Who Nearly Didn't Come
After the bypass I was frightened of my own heartbeat. Being wired up to a monitor while I exercised, with a nurse watching the screen, was the only way I was ever going to walk fast again. Twelve weeks later I did a 5k.
COPD had me avoiding the stairs, then avoiding leaving the house. Eight weeks of pulmonary rehab and I can carry the shopping in one trip. Nothing about my lungs changed — everything about the rest of me did.
My cardiologist mentioned rehab almost in passing and I nearly didn't bother. I found out later it lowers the odds of another event by about a fifth. Nobody had put it to me like that, and it would have changed my mind sooner.
Eighteen months of breathlessness after COVID and being told my chest scans were clear. The breathing retraining and graded exercise here was the first thing that made a real difference.
Ground Floor, Parking at the Door
Twelve monitored stations, a quiet education room, and no part of it that feels like a hospital ward.
What It Costs and How to Get In
Medicare Covers 36 Sessions
For qualifying diagnoses — heart attack, bypass, stent, stable angina, valve surgery, transplant and stable heart failure — Medicare Part B covers up to thirty-six cardiac rehabilitation sessions. Pulmonary rehab is covered for moderate to very severe COPD.
Commercial Plans Too
Wellmark Blue Cross, UnitedHealthcare, Aetna and Cigna all cover cardiac rehabilitation for the standard indications. We verify your benefits and tell you the per-session cost before you start.
A Referral Is Required
Unlike most physical therapy, cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation needs a physician referral — it's a condition of coverage. If you don't have one, call us and we'll request it from your cardiologist directly.
Maintenance Is Self-Funded
$18 a session or $120 a month, unlimited. Deliberately priced so people can attend twice a week for years, because that's what keeps the benefit.
Transport Help
We coordinate with DART paratransit and keep a list of volunteer drivers. Transport is one of the top reasons people drop out and it is a solvable problem.
Bring Your Partner
To the assessment and to the education sessions. The person who cooks and worries alongside you gets more out of this than you might expect.
What People Ask Before Starting
Is it safe to exercise after a heart attack?
Supervised, monitored exercise after a cardiac event is not just safe — it is one of the most strongly recommended things you can do. The risk of a serious event during supervised cardiac rehab is extremely low, and the risk of avoiding exercise afterwards is considerably higher.
I'm too unfit to start. Will I hold everyone up?
Almost everyone says this, and almost everyone starts lower than they expect. Programmes are individual even though the room is shared — your intensity is set from your own walk test, and nobody is comparing. Several of our patients begin with two minutes of walking.
Do I need a referral?
Yes, for cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation specifically — it's a coverage requirement rather than our rule. If your cardiologist or physician hasn't referred you, ring us and we'll request it. You don't have to be the one chasing it.
What happens after the 36 sessions?
You'll be re-tested, given a written home programme and a letter to your cardiologist, and offered the maintenance programme. The evidence is clear that the benefits fade when people stop, so we make continuing as easy and cheap as we can.
Can you help with long COVID breathlessness?
Yes, and carefully. We screen first for post-exertional symptom exacerbation, because for some people conventional graded exercise makes things worse rather than better. If that's you, the programme is paced and symptom-titrated instead, and we'll explain the difference at the assessment.
What should I bring to the first session?
Comfortable shoes and clothes, your medication list, your discharge summary if you have one, and any inhalers or GTN spray you use. And your partner, if they'd like to come.
Be in the Quarter
If you've had a cardiac event and nobody has mentioned rehab, ring us. We'll chase the referral for you.
Grand Avenue, Des Moines
Tell us what happened and roughly when. We'll do the rest, including the referral if it hasn't been made.