The AMC Cardiac Center will provide a comprehensive program for patients suffering from cardiovascular disease. The Center is dedicated to reducing the impact of heart disease and to improving the quality of life through comprehensive diagnosis, treatment and long term rehabilitation.
An interdisciplinary team will assess, diagnose and plan the intervention of each individual patient's care needs. Obtaining an accurate cardiovascular diagnosis and offering immediate care not only saves lives, but can also prevent long term heart damage.
Fortunately for Ashdod, AMC will offer comprehensive cardiac care close to home without compromising quality. With a specialized team of cardiologists, critical care services and state-of-the-art diagnosis and treatment technology, advanced cardiac care will be locally available.

Cardiac disease

Congestive heart failure (CHF) has reached pandemic levels whose incidence increases with age for both men and women. Of all heart diseases, it is the most lethal. In Israel it results in 450,000 hospitalizations every year. Over time, untreated CHF will affect every organ in the body, thus early diagnosis and treatment are critical. Coronary artery disease (CAD) is an additional grave heart disease, a major cause of illness and death. It is the result of the clogging of the inner lining of the blood vessels that supply blood to the heart.

The AMC Heart Center will comprise two major treatment programs: the Cardiac Clinic and the Rehabilitation Unit.
The Cardiac Clinic will emphasize early screening, detection and evaluation of high risk candidates of CHF and CAD. It will adopt an aggressive invasive and non-invasive multidisciplinary approach meshing cardiology, nephrology and endocrinology. A battery of diagnostic options will include:

• Nuclear imaging
• Echocardiographs
• Exercise cardiac stress testing
• Holter monitoring
• Echo Doppler
• Stabilization of medication regime (one-day hospitalization).

AMC will not compete with hospital cardiac units, therefore no cardiac catheterization, which may result in hospitalization, will be done. Instead, innovative medication regimes to prevent catheterization will be implemented and regularly followed up.

The Rehabilitation Unit will assure maximal cardiac rehabilitation/secondary prevention programs. Dedicated professional staff (registered nurses, physiotherapists, exercise physiologists, clinical nutritionists and a diabetes educator) will coordinate and articulate their interventions in order to optimize a cardiac patient's physical, psychological and social functioning. The rehabilitation program is designed to focus on the underlying atherosclerotic processes, thereby reducing morbidity and mortality.

In order to successfully guarantee the accomplishment of these goals, the Unit will:

• Assess patient baseline functioning and engage long term follow-up
• Offer dietary/nutrition counseling
•  Provide risk factor management (hypertension, weight, diabetes, lipids, smoking)
• Ensure supervised safety of physical activity and exercise training (e.g., treadmills, resistance equipment, upper body ergonometrics)
• Monitor the use of cardioprotective drugs
• Educate for stress management.

In addition to the approximately 3000 sq. feet (280 sq. meters) Cardiac Center, a fully equipped exercise gym will be at the disposal of the patients to ensure the success of the rehabilitation program. In conjunction with AMC Community Mental Health Center staff, patients and their families will be provided with counseling and support to cope with the aftermath of by-pass surgery and heart attack.
Two auxiliary functions of the Center include 1. the cardiac arrhythmias monitoring unit and center for  supervision and maintenance of cardiac pacemakers, and 2. the cardiac ergonometric testing center for annual employee health evaluation. This will enable employees to have their health checks done locally rather than waste a work day traveling to Rishon LeZion or even Tel Aviv.

The Cardiac Clinic and the Rehabilitation Unit will provide patients in the Ashdod area with up-to-date diagnosis, care and rehabilitation which will result in significant improvement in both survival rates and quality of life indicators for heart disease patients.