TriHealth’s Bethesda North Hospital is the recipient of The Mended Hearts Inc. Central Region Hospital of the Year for 2019. The hospital was selected to receive this award because of the outstanding service it provides to Mended Hearts Chapter 35 in its mission to provide support and education to its members and the local community. The award was announced in August, and a small ceremony took place at Bethesda North on Thursday, October 29. During the ceremony, Loren Hiratzka, MD, thanked the Mended Hearts volunteers for “their unique support of patients and families, the nature of which can only come from those who have been through illness, treatment and healing.”

 

In addition to providing space for meetings and storage facilities for educational materials, Bethesda North team members print the chapter’s newsletters, help facilitate on-going training for visitors, and provide speakers for the chapter’s educational meetings. They also recognize the importance of peer-to-peer support and make it a priority to connect patients and families with accredited Mended Hearts visitors. 

  

“We are honored to recognize Bethesda North Hospital for the outstanding work they have done to support heart patients and their families,” said Mended Hearts Inc. President Ron Manriquez.  “That they have won this award is proof of the deep commitment they have to their members, families and the community at large.  We are grateful for the work they do to support the Mended Hearts mission.”

 

Mended Hearts is the largest cardiovascular peer-to-peer support network in the world, and was founded in 1951 by Dr. Dwight Harken, renowned cardiac surgeon at Brigham & Women’s Hospital, and four of his heart surgery patients.

 

Mended Hearts members are like the people they serve — heart patients and family members drawing on their own personal experience as they educate, reassure and inspire others. Heart patients and their families gain hope by seeing others who have survived heart disease and are healthy. 

 

With nearly 40,000 members in 276+ chapters across the U.S. their mission is “inspire hope and improve the quality of life for heart patients and their families through ongoing peer-to-peer support.”