The First 60 Years Our Foundation for the Future.

The First 60 YearsOur Foundation for the Future

This slideshow was made possible by the wonderful 50-year history compiled

byMary Shreve, Richmond, VA.

If you haven’t read it, you should.

Three score

and one year

ago...

…it all began

IN THE 1950’s

• The Korean War

• “I Love Lucy”

• The Big Mac

• The first credit card

• The first business computer

• MENDED HEARTS WAS

FORMED!!

OUR HUMBLE BEGINNING

In January 1951, post-heart surgery

patients, Doris Siliman, Keith Otto,

Alphonse Santamassimo and Elizabeth

Wilkinson, started a “support group” at the

suggestion of

Dr. Dwight Harken. They called themselves,

“The Mended Hearts.”

The patients said:

“It’s great to be alive!”

Dr. Harken added:

“and to help others!”

DR. DWIGHT E. HARKEN“Father of Heart Surgery”

The first surgeon tohave repeated successwith heart surgery.

“We discovered that the heart wasn’t such a mysterious and untouchable thing after all.”

Boston, MassachusettsJune 1953

About 50 Attendees

1953The First Annual Meeting

4TH ANNUAL MEETINGFirst Souvenir Book &

Self-Supporting Meeting

1954First Accredited Visitor

• Lee Bowden

• Ida Chartkoff was

the second

1956First Hospital Visiting Booklet

•“Rigid rules” for

visiting

• First page required

two

physician signatures

THE MENDED HEARTS, INC.

• Mended Hearts was incorporated in 1955

in Massachusetts

• Constitution and Bylaws were adopted

• 1956 MHI received tax exempt status for an

organization “operated exclusively for

charitable

and organizational purposes.”

1958First Chapter Outside of

Massachusetts

Nashville, Tennessee, Chapter 29

IN THE 1960’s

• Star Trek

• JFK & Jackie

• Neil Armstrong

• NY Jets in Super Bowl

• MENDED HEARTS CONTINUES

TO GROW & THRIVE

1960’s

• 1960 “Instructional Bulletin #2, Mended-Hearts

Home Visiting” booklet created

• 1960 First Newsletter Committee established

• 1963 President Lyndon B. Johnson presented

with an Associate Membership and pin

• 1964 First Finance Committee was established

• 1967 National dues had been raised from $2 to

$3, and MHI had its first balanced budget.

1964National Office Opens

• Office was at Carrie Hall Nurses’

Residence at Peter Bent Brigham

Hospital

• Mr. Saul Ages of Ottowa, Canada

donated money to pay for 3 years

• The first paid worker worked 12 hours

per week

Convention 1966 Greater Boston Chapter

1967The Red Rose Becomes

Symbol of Mended Hearts

Stands for the love and courage of all mended hearts

1969 FIRST ORGANIZATIONAL MANUAL

10 Active Members Needed to Form a Chapter

The manual concludes, “We must all remember that

[The] Mended Hearts, Inc. is an affiliation of persons

throughout the world who share a common bond. The

national organization exists only because we have this

affiliation - a number of chapters united with one goal -

To Help Others. [The] Mended Hearts, Inc. is YOU and

all your members. Do not let your members feel this is

just a Boston or Houston Group or any other individual

group running the show. Without your help, and all

chapters like yours, the national organization could or

would not be able to exist.

1969First Advocacy

• Life insurance companies began to refuse to

accept valve replacement surgery patients

• Drs. Harken, DeBakey, Cooley, & Kantrowitz

showed this surgery was “life-giving life

insurance in the best sense of the word.”

IN THE 1970’s

• Hank Aaron bested Babe

• Age of Aquarius

• Mark Spitz took gold

• Godfather the movie

• We were asking, “Where’s the beef?”

• MENDED HEART HAS THE BEEF!

1970First Research Project

College of Physicians & Surgeons,

Columbia University in NY

About 2,000 Mended Hearts

participated

Showed there is indeed

good life after heart surgery

1971GOOD LIFE AFTER HEART

SURGERYSan Diego Convention

Mended Hearts Having Fun

• Northeastern

• Eastern

• Southeastern

• Midwest

• Southwest

• Western Pacific

1973Regions Established

1973Organizational Study

• Insurance companies wondered how self-help

organizations could affect them.

• Top psychologists studied 50 participants

• Ellnor Gammage represented Mended Hearts

• Mended Hearts is the 2nd oldest self-help

organization. Alcoholics anonymous is the

oldest.

1974Emblem Registered

1982Emblem Must Be On All

Materialswith ® Symbol

2002Emblem Used Today

2002

EMBLEMS

19821972

20th

Boston, Massachusetts

1975National Executive Secretary

Appointed

Beverly

Weiss

“I hope the reopening of the Home Office here in Boston has been a giant step toward progress and the awakening to the fact that The Mended Hearts, Inc. is an organization that is no upstart group here today and gone tomorrow; but a vital, strong, healthy organization with roots and strength to function in a business-like manner.”

Insurance companies wanted to stop issuing driver’s licenses to heart surgery patients.

Mended Hearts got a $1 million government-funded study going with 1,000 patients that showed

heart surgery patients were safer drivers than those refusing

surgery.

NATIONAL RECOGNITION

• 1974 May/June Reader’s

Digest published an

article on the work of

Mended Hearts

• 1975 National television

broadcast, Over Easy,

featured Mended Hearts

1970’sSmoking is Bad For Your Heart

No more smoking atMended Hearts’ meetings

1979Home Office Moves To Dallas

AHA Donates Space

AHA PRESENTS PLAQUEMarking One Year Under Same Roof

Dr. James Schoenberger, President of the AHA

“Even as doctors look to the physical

wounds of the patients, Mended

Hearts tends to the patients’

emotional needs by their visits. Those

who are ill need both ministrations.

To ensure they do receive both in the

future, we (AHA) pledge to you (MHI)

all possible cooperation. The plaque is

a mark of that pledge.”

THE YOUNGEST VISITORS

• 7-year old Eric Frohn, Chapter 76, Jackson, MS

was granted visiting privileges in the 1970’s

• Frohn was featured in Heartbeat 1975

visiting children with a stuffed Snoopy

hand-embroidered by his mother

• 1978 San Diego accredited 9-year old

Brandy Rae Wiedenhuff who had heart surgery:

1968, pulmonary artery bonding and 1974,

VSD closure.

IN THE 1980’s

• USA Today

• Mike Douglas in Wall Street

• First woman on Supreme Court

• Compact disc

• “Who shot JR?”

• MENDED HEARTS DID NOT

SHOOT JR

RESEARCH PROVES VALUE OF MENDED

HEARTS

Sister Patricia Miller,University of Nebraska College of

Nursing

Mended Hearts members return to work sooner and in greater numbers than patients with similar conditions who did not have the advantage and

support of the organization.

1981

VISITS TOP 100,000!

1980’s

• 1982 Annual dues: individual dues to $10, family dues to

$15

• 1982 President’s Cup Award and Newsletter Award

started

• 1982 Visiting program includes non-surgical patients

• 1983 Regions realigned to 8 regions

• 1983 Use “visit” rather than “visitation”

1982Children with Congenital Cardiac

Conditions

• Coordinator appointed

for visiting children

• Committee to consider

sponsoring children’s

cardiac camps

• 1982 10 chapters report

active pediatric visiting

programs

1984First Futures Conference

Goals:

1. Increase membership knowledge of the functions of

Mended Hearts Chapters and the duties of officers and

chairpersons.

2. Reduce turnover of membership and increase the membership by offering our services to all heart related patients.

3. Expand the paid professional staff of Mended Hearts to increase support to Regional Directors and Chapters.

4. Improve the patient/family visiting program.

5. Make the general public aware of Mended Hearts.

6. Maximize the medical profession and hospital awareness and acceptance of program and its value to the heart patient.

END OF 1980’s

MENDED HEARTS APPROACHES 100

CHAPTERS!

IN THE 1990’s

• US troops in Persian Gulf

• OJ Simpson Trial

• Dolly, the sheep, was cloned

• Dances with Wolves movie

• “Think outside the box” is common phrase

• MENDED HEARTS THINKS OUTSIDE THE BOX

1990

AHA BEGINS ANNUAL GRANT TO MENDED

HEARTS

1990’s

• 1990 PATH Pack developed for visiting

• 1990 Chapter Organizational Manual rewritten

• 1991 Mended Hearts on the World Wide Web from

Ohio Chapter

• 1992 Endowment Fund established, goal of $250,000

by 2002

• 1993 Visitor Training Manual developed

• 1997 Internet Visiting was started with 40 accredited

visitors

• 1997 National website created

1997First Mended Hearts Telephone

Line

FIRST NATIONAL SPOKESPERSON

Miss Seattle, Anna Ellin Johansson

2000’sA New Milleneum

• Tom Hanks in Castaway

• AOL merges with Time Warner

• Senator Hillary Clinton

• Twin Towers

• Harry Potter does magic

• MENDED HEARTS ALSO DOES

MAGIC

2001Work of MHI Recognized

by State Legislature

Recognized by General Assembly of the Commonwealth in Richmond,

VirginiaHouse Joint Resolution 270

commended the work of Mended Hearts

2002New National Spokesperson

Dan Reeves, Coach of

Atlanta Falcons

2002First Partnership with

National Pharmaceutical Company

•Funded mailing of MHI

information to 60,000

cardiac physicians

•Created first national

radio and television

promotions for MHI

FAMOUS PARTNERGolf Legend Jack Nicklaus

• “Do More for Your Heart”

program

to educate people to reduce heart

attack risk

• Joined with Wyeth-Ayerst

Laboratories and Monarch

Pharmaceuticals to raise $100,000

for MHI—based on his

performance in Senior PGA Tour

events

2002Mended Hearts Staff

Standing:Mary Brink, SecretaryBonna Kol, Executive Dir.

Krystn Vertz, Bookkeeper

Sitting:

Regina Dixon, Field Service Dir.; Cathy Clapp, Executive Asst;Linda Beeson, Office Mgr

2003MENDED HEARTS AT ACC

Mended Hearts makes its first appearance at American

College of Cardiology

Scientific Sessions

2004Mended Little Hearts is Born!

National volunteer and Executive Committee member, Tita Hutchins, helps Mended Little Hearts form.

2004First 6 MLH Groups

• Fresno, CA 4/29

• Hollywood, FL 5/5

• Winston-Salem

6/14

• Spearfish, SD 6/28

• Toledo, OH 11/9

• Des Moines, IA

12/20

FRESNO: SANDY BRIGGS, LISA PINEDO, WAFAA SIQUEIROS

2004Mended Hearts Volunteer Honored

by President of United States of America

Sid Harris of Youngwood,

Ohio was presented an

award for outstanding

volunteer of Forum

Heath Medical Center by

President George

Bush, Sr. … in person!

2005NEWSWEEK

Publishes Article About Mended Hearts

2006LPGA Hall of Famer, Nancy Lopez and Baseball Legend

Ray KnightJoin Mended Hearts

2006US NEWS & WORLD REPORT

Publishes an Article About Mended Hearts

2007Mended Little Hearts

•Program expands to 25 groups

•First MLH staff, Jodi Lemacks, is hired

thanks to grant from Edwards LifeSciences

•First Leadership Training at MHI Annual

Convention in San Antonio, Texas

2007MLH’S First Leadership Training

San Antonio

2008

VISITS TOP 200,000!

Mended Hearts was recognized as a source for patients in the American Heart Association’s announcement of new

recommended treatment guidelines for heart patients.

2008

2009MLH Edits AHA Booklet

For CHD Families

Mended Little Hearts reviewed and helped edit American Heart

Association’s booklet,“If Your Child Has A Congenital Heart

Defect.”

CHD LOBBY DAY

Mended Little Hearts co-hosts its first annual

Congenital Heart Defect Lobby Day in 2008

In 2010 the Congenital Heart Futures Act

is passed into law

The Act is funded with $2 million in 2011

for CHD Research and Surveillance

2009

Mended Hearts partners with SCAI to launch its Cath Outreach Program for cath lab visiting.

2010 to 2012

• Earthquakes in Haiti & Japan

• Gulf of Mexico BP Oil Rig Explodes

• Chilean miners were rescued

• Prince William marries Kate Middleton

• Steve Jobs dies

• Toy Story 3 and Transformers 3 movies on top of

box office charts

• MENDED HEARTS AND MENDED LITTLE

HEARTS TO INFINITY AND BEYOND !

Mended Hearts aligns with the American College of Cardiology, signing a 5-year

agreement to work togetherto help heart patients and their families

2011

2011MLH Joins The EC

Mended Little Hearts elects its first member of the Mended Hearts Executive Committee, Susan Vanderpool

FALL 2011New Visiting Materials

Mended Hearts and Mended Little Hearts launch new accredited visiting materials, including a DVD, visitor handbook, and training guide.

2011Houston Chapter 38 Celebrates 50 Years

The second oldest Mended Hearts Chapter

January 1 - May 16, 2012

•Executive Director, Karen Caruth, is hired in

February!

•A Caregiver Committee is formed and ready to

work! (Come to the Caregiver Workshop on Sunday.)

•The first MHI & MLH Speakers’ Bureau is formed!

•Mended Hearts and Mended Little Hearts celebrate

our organization’s 60th Convention!

Celebrating 60 Years!Our Future is in Your Hands

2012