This is no ordinary exercise. The ones that come here try to get back something that time and/or illness took from them-- their breath.

Breathing was a struggle 24 hours a day for Betty Rouse. That was until she started therapy with the Pulmonary Rehabilitation program which is the newest part of Logan Memorial's The Heart Wellness Program.

Rouse had emphysema-like conditions for several years. Had to struggle for her breath each day. She is a success story.

She started therapy in August and after 36 treatments, which included walks on a treadmill and riding a stationary bicycle, she has had a great change in her life.

"It helped me very much," the Schochoh resident said. "When I started, I was having to take oxygen all day and now I only sleep with it at night."

Through hard work, Rouse got her breath back.

"This rehab really helped me," she said. "And I hardly ever use oxygen during the day now."

The Pulmonary Rehabilitation program combines exercise and education to improve the quality of life for those suffering from shortness of breath and reduced lung function. This program was added in March to The Heart Wellness Program. The Heart Wellness Program has been available at the hospital since 1998.

Julie Davenport is director of Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehabilitation at Logan Memorial.

"The goal here is strengthening muscles involved in breathing," Davenport said. "We work on increasing endurance through exercise. We are not focused so much on speed or elevation but endurance."

Davenport said the program also incorporates education.

"Each time a patient comes we involve them in an educational session about their illness and bettering themselves," she said. "The average patient is here 10 weeks, two days a week."

And that education is just part of a personal touch the program gives, she said.

"It is tailored to the individual basis," Davenport said. "An exercise prescription is written for the patient. The patient completes a six-minute walk test and a pulmonary function test prior to entry to the program. And we tailor their exercise prescriptions from that."

Some patients have just recently been diagnosed or some have problems breathing for years, Davenport said, so it is important to match their exercise program with their needs.

"We want them breathing more effectively," she said. "It just improves their quality of life. Even though some patients are going to remain on oxygen, they are going to be able to go to places like the grocery store, the mall, drive a car or go to church."

Logan Memorial CEO Michael Clark said that the hospital fully bought in mentally to a concept that Logan Memorial is a community hospital.

"That is really what we believe and know from our patient surveys that once they have have experienced the care here, they rank us extremely high," he said. "We know that it is an honor and a privilege to hold their trust and provide health services to this community. And we don't forget that in anything that we do."

One of the things that you can be comfortable in knowing is that whatever your illness this can always be a starting point.

A quote that Davenport has on the wall for the patients to see is what she sees as the goal and purpose for The Heart Wellness Program:

"A life-saving pathway between activity and isolation and socialization; depression and hope; and from being an observer of life to being an active participant in it."