The First 60 Years
Our Foundation for the Future
This slideshow was made possible by the
wonderful 50-year history compiled by
Mary 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 to
have repeated success
with heart surgery.
“We discovered that the heart
wasn’t such a mysterious and
untouchable thing after all.”
1953
The First Annual Meeting
Boston, Massachusetts
June 1953
About 50 Attendees
4TH ANNUAL MEETING
First Souvenir Book &
Self-Supporting Meeting
1954
First Accredited Visitor
• Lee Bowden
• Ida Chartkoff was
the second
1956
First 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.”
1958
First 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.
1964
National 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
1967
The 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.
1969
First 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!
1970
First 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
1971
GOOD LIFE AFTER HEART SURGERY
San Diego Convention
Mended Hearts Having Fun
1973
Regions Established
• Northeastern
• Midwest
• Eastern
• Southwest
• Southeastern
• Western Pacific
1973
Organizational 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.
1974
Emblem Registered
1982
Emblem Must Be On All Materials
with ® Symbol
2002
Emblem Used Today
EMBLEMS
1972
1982
2002
Boston, Massachusetts
20th
1975
National Executive Secretary Appointed
“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.”
Beverly Weiss
Insurance companies wanted to stop issuing
driver’s licenses to heart surgery patients.
Mended Hearts got a $1 million governmentfunded 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’s
Smoking is Bad For Your Heart
No more smoking at
Mended Hearts’ meetings
1979
Home Office Moves To Dallas
AHA Donates Space
AHA PRESENTS PLAQUE
Marking 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”
1982
Children 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
1984
First 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
1997
First Mended Hearts Telephone Line
FIRST NATIONAL
SPOKESPERSON
Miss Seattle, Anna Ellin Johansson
2000’s
A 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
2001
Work of MHI Recognized
by State Legislature
Recognized by General Assembly of the
Commonwealth in Richmond, Virginia
House Joint Resolution 270 commended the
work of Mended Hearts
2002
New National Spokesperson
Dan Reeves, Coach of Atlanta Falcons
2002
First 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 PARTNER
Golf 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
2002
Mended Hearts Staff
Standing:
Mary Brink, Secretary
Bonna Kol, Executive Dir.
Krystn Vertz, Bookkeeper
Sitting:
Regina Dixon, Field Service Dir.;
Cathy Clapp, Executive Asst;
Linda Beeson, Office Mgr
2003
MENDED HEARTS AT ACC
Mended Hearts makes its first appearance at
American College of Cardiology
Scientific Sessions
2004
Mended Little Hearts is Born!
National volunteer
and Executive
Committee member,
Tita Hutchins, helps
Mended Little Hearts
form.
2004
First 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
2004
Mended 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!
2005
NEWSWEEK
Publishes Article About Mended Hearts
2006
LPGA Hall of Famer, Nancy Lopez
and Baseball Legend Ray Knight
Join Mended Hearts
2006
US NEWS & WORLD REPORT
Publishes an Article About Mended Hearts
2007
Mended 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
2007
MLH’S First Leadership Training
San Antonio
2008
VISITS TOP 200,000!
2008
Mended Hearts was recognized as a source for
patients in the American Heart Association’s
announcement of new recommended treatment
guidelines for heart patients.
2009
MLH 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 !
2011
Mended Hearts aligns with the American College of
Cardiology, signing a 5-year agreement to work together
to help heart patients and their families
2011
MLH Joins The EC
Mended Little Hearts
elects its first member
of the Mended Hearts
Executive Committee,
Susan Vanderpool
FALL 2011
New Visiting Materials
Mended Hearts and
Mended Little Hearts
launch new accredited
visiting materials,
including a DVD, visitor
handbook, and training
guide.
2011
Houston 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!
2012
Celebrating 60 Years!
Our Future is in Your Hands