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Mended Hearts is a Nationwide non-profit support organization for heart patients and their families. We have a membership of well over 26,000 members in over 280 chapters within the continental United States, with 1 in Hawaii and 2 in Canada.
In 2008, as an organization, we will celebrate our 57th year of support for heart patients and their families.
Following the medical advances made under combat conditions during World War II, surgeons realized that the heart was no longer a surgical taboo. Many young doctors came home from the war with new ideas on how to improve cardiac surgical techniques. With new ideas on intervention of cardiac disease, heart surgery became more commonplace. Along with new ideas from the surgeons, nurses also came home with improved ideas for cardiac care and patient recovery.
Our organization began in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1951. Our founder Dr. Dwight Harken, and 4 of his heart patients and their spouses, were one day sitting around and talking about their mended hearts and about how great it was to be alive. Thus our name and our motto, Mended Hearts and "It's great to be alive and to help others." It was realized early on, that after cardiac surgery and recovery, there was a need for patient and family support. For more than 55 years now, we've been doing just that!!!
As a local chapter here in Evansville, Indiana, we received our charter from Mended Hearts in October 1979. We have a team of volunteers that visit cardiac patients and their families at our three area hospitals; Deaconess Hospital, Deaconess Gateway and St. Mary's Medical Center.
We are affiliated with the American Heart Association. They sponsor a toll free number for us. You can call us at 1-888-HEART99 or 1-888-432-7899 for information. When you call this number you will receive information of chapter locations near you and a means to talk to one of our accredited visitors. You can also email our Internet Visiting Chairman, Gerry Harrelson at support@mendedhearts.org. From the information center in Dallas, you can also be sent educational brochures relating to your particular condition.
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