Director: Dr. Jacob Klein
Tel: 02-6555947    

Location: 10th floor

Areas of Activity
Dr. Jacob Klein is one of Israel's leading cardiologists in the field of cardiac rehabilitation and prevention, and works tirelessly to promote awareness and education in this area. He currently chairs the cardiac rehabilitation working group in the Israel Heart Society and is co-director of the first academic cardiac rehabilitation course at the Technion's Tel Aviv branch.

Dr. Klein runs the Cardiac Rehabilitation and Prevention Department in the Jesselson Heart Center, assisted by a team of cardiac nurses, exercise physiologists, nutritionists, social workers, medical technicians, psychologists and psychiatrists. Together, this team works to rehabilitate patients and bring them to their optimum mental and physical level. It also works to modify the risk factors wherever possible and therefore prevent recurrence of cardiac events.

The program runs in three stages: during the period of hospitalization, after discharge for a period of four to six months, and finally a maintenance program which patients continue independently. It is designed for patients who have suffered myocardial infarction, blockages in their coronary arteries, undergone bypass surgery or have had angiograms with procedures to open arteries. The program is a combination of highly supervised exercise, education and counseling where needed. Each patient receives individual assessments, consultations and personal prescriptions so that his course is tailored to his individual needs.

The entire staff is trained to be psychologically astute, recognizing that emotional rehabilitation is a crucial part of the patient's healing process. Cardiac events often trigger depression, fear and anxiety in patients, and so the staff provide constant reassurance, support, and where necessary, psychological or psychiatric assistance. This is considered just as important as the careful monitoring of patients for arrhythmia or irregularities in oxygen supply and blood pressure during exercise, and full dietary and lifestyle consultations.

The need for programs of this sort is becoming more and more acute, as an aging population expereinces an ever-higher proportion of cardiac problems. Dr. Klein's staff has witnessed first hand just how successful their carefully constructed exercise schedules have been. Many patients have progressed from being barely able to stumble a few steps to comfortably walking a full half-hour. As well as improving their quality of life immeasurably, this significantly reduces the chances that they will suffer further cardiac events.