seven-hour surgery to replace his failing heart valves. “I figured if I made it through the operation, then the subsequent recovery would be relatively easy,” he said. “I played sports my whole life and had been lifting weights and exercising regularly at the gym since my mid-teens. Then, reality hit.” A few days after surgery, Joseph tried to walk down the hospital hallway with a walker and was completely out of breath after only 20 feet. “I realized right there that, despite my younger age, this recovery was going to be much harder than I had envisioned,” he said. A blessing in disguise Joseph was not only physically fit, but a stellar student. He had graduated from Whitworth University with honors and was working in the Portland, Oregon, area as a stock analyst until the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. His company transitioned to remote work, so he moved back to his hometown of Rathdrum, Idaho, to be near family during lockdown. That move proved to be one of those strange twists of fate that has revealed itself as a blessing. When he got sick, it was the intuitive insight that only a parent could have that prompted them to get their son immediate care. Thankfully, Joseph and his family live in a region that offers some of the most comprehensive cardiac care in the nation. His surgery was performed in Spokane by the cardiac care team he had seen his whole life. “I am so thankful for my doctors, and it’s just great knowing that Kootenai also offers the same type of cardiac services,” said Joseph. “I wanted to continue my care closer to home, so my physicians referred me to Kootenai Health. I trusted them to care for my heart my whole life, so when they suggested I start treatment at Kootenai’s cardiac rehab program, I made a point of getting started right away.” Kootenai Health provides the full spectrum of care for cardiology patients—from prevention and treatment through rehabilitation. The strong philanthropic community in our region contributed generously to fund a 41,000-square-foot expansion to the Kootenai Health Heart Center, which opened its doors in August of this year. The innovative center’s prevention and treatment services are complemented by a cardiac rehabilitation program that offers patients a specialized, comprehensive approach to improve outcomes for even the most complex cases. Joseph worked with the team at Kootenai Health Cardiac Rehabilitation two times a week for four months. “Joseph came to us with a lot of physical and emotional complexities that often accompany major surgery,” said Claudia Chavez, Kootenai Health’s Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehab supervisor. “We work hard to provide a safe, controlled, individualized program that gives patients the tools they need to be successful.” Support for a strong comeback “I was in a rough mental state when I started cardiac rehab. I had lost nearly all sense of independence, and my life had been turned upside down,” See our expanded Heart Center! Thanks to generous donor support of the Kootenai Health Foundation, a 41,000-square-foot expansion to the Kootenai Health Heart Center opened its doors in August of this year. The facility offers innovative equipment, procedures and specialists dedicated to serving the region’s most complex cardiac patients. Joseph Schwalbach was able to water-ski on Hayden Lake a year after his open-heart surgery. —Continued on next page KH.ORG 7
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy ODQ1MTY=