A new round of patients arrives for their first day of cardiac rehabilitation. They eye the elastic bands, free weights, and ellipticals. Many are out of breath. Some use canes and walkers.
Sensing their reluctance, Jadyn Zaffiri steps forward. She’s more than a greeter. She’s the pathway to feeling better, to staying out of the hospital.
A transfer student from Bradley University, Zaffiri entered the University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) exercise science program planning to become a physical therapist.
“When Dr. D talked about cardiac rehab, I just knew it was for me,” Zaffiri said.
Angela Doehring, a clinical assistant professor at UIS, tells her students, “If we can prevent people from being physically inactive, we’re finally putting to good use one of the most cost-effective tools we have in healthcare.”
According to a 2026 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, sedentary lifestyles cost the United States more than $192 billion in healthcare costs each year. At the University of Illinois System, that reality shapes how programs train the next generation of healthcare professionals — focusing on prevention, access, and helping people live longer, healthier lives.
Reaching goals. Feeling better.
Zaffiri takes it slow with her mostly older patients. She reassures. She explains. Whether they’re recovering from a heart attack or a planned procedure, she helps patients see cardiac rehab is their best chance at feeling like themselves again.
“I’ll say, ‘Hey, if you modify some of your risk factors, if we get your exercise and nutrition in check, we might be able to reduce some of your medications,’” Zaffiri said. “That really excites some people, gets them motivated.”
Zaffiri and her colleagues at Memorial Therapy Center on Koke Mill in Springfield work with about 60 cardiac patients three days a week and 30 pulmonary patients two days a week. Heart monitors and blood pressure checks start each hour-long session, for a total of 36 sessions per patient.
“After all their hard work, I want my patients to feel like they’ve increased their endurance, their strength, and their overall energy,” she said. “I want them to feel confident exerting themselves because our goal is not for them to just exercise for three months during rehab.
“We want exercise to become part of their lives.”
From exam rooms to fitness centers
Demand is growing for professionals who understand and promote the connections between exercise, chronic disease management, and overall health, Doehring said. And federal policy is catching up. As of January 1, providers can bill Medicare for assessing patients’ physical activity and nutritional habits twice a year.
The UIS exercise science program gave Zaffiri a running start.
“I did my internship with Springfield Memorial Hospital the last few months of my senior year,” she said. “They had an opening, told me I should interview, and I got the job.”
Exercise science offers flexibility. Graduates can go directly into fields like athletic training, cardiopulmonary rehab, strength and conditioning, corporate wellness, or community health. Or they can pursue advanced options — physical therapy, clinical exercise physiology, occupational therapy, and physician assistant programs.
‘A win for all of us’
After seeing all kinds of cases, Zaffiri is confident “prescribing” exercise to her rehab patients. She sees how upbringing shapes health later in life.
“People in my generation had getting exercise instilled in us. But for the generations I’m working with — mainly people in their 70s, 80s and even 90s — that’s not the case,” she said. “A lot of the people we see have never done any sort of intentional exercise or even used a piece of exercise equipment.”
Occasionally Zaffiri works with patients preparing for heart or lung transplants. She sees how debilitated they are — some need oxygen to walk a slow half mile an hour on a treadmill. Therapy helps them build strength for surgery and recovery. The transformation can be remarkable. Fifteen minutes on an elliptical, a triumph.
All cases aren’t that dramatic, and that’s OK with Zaffiri.
“It’s so rewarding when everything is running smoothly. Our patients’ EKGs look great, and no one is having issues reaching their goals,” she said.
“It’s such a win for all of us when someone sets a goal and then blows it out of the water.”
Zaffiri doesn’t do her job for recognition, but when it comes along, it sticks. On his last day of cardiac rehab, a patient approaching 70 left a note that said he hadn’t felt that good since he was 30.
