how you can help
Heart Pillows - Looking for a Community Project?
Last year Chapter 119 donated over 388 'Mended Hearts Pillows' to patients who had open heart surgery at Riverside Regional Medical Center. These pillows bring a great deal of comfort throughout the patient's recovery period. Shown above are members of St. Mark Lutheran Church, Yorktown displaying some of the completed heart pillows they made for our chapter.
Your community organization can provide a valuable service to your neighbors and community by helping our Mended Hearts chapter. We need volunteers to help us cut out, sew, and stuff heart pillows. People of all ages can participate in the process. All materials are provided. All that's needed is you. Why not consider sharing your heart to give a heart to a mended heart? For more information, contact our Pillow Chairman.
AHA partners with Mended Hearts on various projects throughout the year. There are various ways in which members, families, and friends can become involved. Mended Hearts supports the AHA by manning tables or booths at health fairs in our local communities. The annual AHA heart walk always provides multiple opportunities to represent the Mended Hearts team. For more information on how you can help, contact our AHA Liaison.
Our chapter is currently seeking volunteers in two areas to help us meet our objectives. You don't need specialized skills, just a willingness to help others. We provide all of the training you need to be successful. The pay may not be the best, but the rewards of helping others will be ongoing. Who is there better to reach out to open heart patients and families than those people who have already been through the experience themselves.
Hospital Volunteers
We need people to help us staff the Cardiac Surgery ICU/ICU waiting area at Riverside Regional Medical Center. Contact our Volunteer Chairman for more information.
Accredited Visitors
We need heart patients and caregivers who want to help other families deal with heart disease. Last year we provided over 1,000 visits to patients and their families. Contact our Visiting Chairman for more information.
Speakers Bureau
Our chapter maintains an active speakers bureau. We can tailor our presentation based on the needs of your organization. Our typical topics include:
- Preventing Heart Disease
- Coping with Heart Disease
- Diabetes and Obesity and their effects Heart Disease
- Women and Heart Disease
- Automatic External Defibrillators (AEDs)
- CPR and AED training
Contact our Speakers Bureau Chairman for more information.
Make a Donation, Gift, or Memorial
Are you looking for a means to remember a loved one no longer with us, a way to honor one you love or care deeply for? There is a way you can do so and help save lives at the same time. Mended Hearts, Inc. is recognized by the IRS as a 501c(3) non-profit organization, and is actively promoting placement of AEDs into our communities. It has been verified that early access to defibrillation increases survival rate of an individual experiencing a heart attack. The 10 minute rule supports that for every minute the heart is not shocked back into rhythm, a person's chance of survival decreases 10%. Your donations to the Chapter 119 AED Fund will help save lives. You can be assured, also, that 100% of your AED donations to our AED fund go directly and completely to the purchase of AEDs to be donated to the community. For more information on making donations contact the Treasurer - Chapter 119.
Defibrillators in Public Places Save Lives
Annually, about 250,000 people die of sudden cardiac arrest. Automatic External Defibrillators can increase the survival rate from a national average of 5% to over 20%! We need help in making sure we have ready access to these life saving devices. Contact the AED Chairman for more information.