Download National Heart News - February 2016

Upcoming
Events:
April 1, 2016 Managing Heart Failure Lunch & Learn, Chicago, IL April 3, 2016 Corporate Advisory Council Meeting, Chicago, IL April 9, 2016 Northeast Cluster Meeting, Chapter #140, Bergen‐Passaic, NJ May 15‐16, 2016 MH & MLH "On The Road" Conference, Scottsdale, AZ June 3‐4, 2016 MH & MLH "On The Road" Conference, Mission Viejo, CA June 23‐24, 2016 MH & MLH "On The Road" Conference, Raleigh, NC July 21‐22, 2016 MH & MLH "On The Road" Conference, Chicago, IL July 22‐23, 2016 CHD Symposium, Chicago, IL September 23‐24, 2016 MH & MLH "On The Road" Conference, Austin, TX October 28‐29, 2016 MH & MLH "On The Road" Conference, Huntsville, AL National Heart News - February 2016
REGISTER NOW: National Education and Training Conference "On the Road" in 2016 In 2016, the Mended Hearts and Mended Little Hearts National Education and Training Conference will be "on the road" in six locations across the United States. With multiple locations, the conference will reach more heart patients, caregivers and families than ever before. Please join us in this exciting journey as we train and educate our network of members to provide peer‐to‐peer support to heart patients in every community. The Education and Training Conference locations and dates are: Rocky Mountain Region May 15‐16, 2016 Scottsdale, Arizona Midwest and Central Regions July 21‐22, 2016 Chicago, Illinois Western Region June 3‐4, 2016 Mission Viejo, California CHD Symposium July 22‐23, 2016 Chicago, Illinois Mid‐Atlantic Region June 23‐24, 2016 Raleigh, North Carolina Southwest Region September 23‐24, 2016 Austin, Texas Southern Region October 28‐29, 2016 Huntsville, Alabama The conference program offers the latest in cardiovascular treatment and care, hands‐on training for accredited visitors and chapter leadership, and peer‐to‐peer networking. The conferences will be attended by heart patients, caregivers, family members, chapter officers, healthcare professionals and others. Register today! Additional information about the conferences can be found on the Mended Hearts website. We hope to see you "on the road" this year! Mended Hearts Contest to Grow Awareness of Advanced Heart Failure Treatment Options There are 50,000 to 100,000 advanced heart failure patients in the U.S. who could benefit from an LVAD, yet many are unaware LVADs are a treatment option. Without an LVAD, most patients will have significantly limited lifestyles and even poor prospects for survival. Now, you have an opportunity to raise awareness of LVAD therapy, celebrate LVAD recipients, and share your story online. Brought to you by Mended Hearts, the "Thanks to an LVAD..." Video Contest allows contest participants to submit a short video (30 seconds or less) featuring an LVAD recipient and at least one friend or loved one sharing what they believe is the best thing about the recipient having received an LVAD. In addition: 
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Every eligible video will trigger a $100 donation from St. Jude
Medical to Mended Hearts, helping Mended Hearts raise awareness
of heart failure.
From February 16 through April 12, 2016, you can create your video
and enter it in the contest through the website,
www.ThanksLVAD.com.
A judge's panel will select five winning videos, the creators of which
will each be highlighted by a news and social media campaign in their
hometown area. The first‐place winner selected from the five will also
be highlighted by a national news and social media campaign.
To submit a video or learn more, please visit www.ThanksLVAD.com,
and join the social media conversation by using #ThanksLVAD.
Managing Heart Failure: Lunch and Learn on April 1 in Chicago Mended Hearts is partnering with CardioSmart to offer a heart failure educational program for those living with heart failure and their caregivers. The lunch and learn is scheduled for Friday, April 1 from 11:30 am ‐ 1:00 pm at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Martha Gulati, MD, FACC, Professor of Medicine & Chief of the Division of Cardiology at The University of Arizona ‐ Phoenix will present the program. This program can help you learn more about the importance of managing heart failure, including lifestyle changes, treatment options and medications. To register or for more information, please visit CardioSmart or call 312‐945‐
8751. The Managing Heart Failure program is sponsored by Novartis Pharmaceuticals. Beating Your Odds: A New Online Game about AFib and Stroke Mended Hearts has partnered with the National Stroke Association to create a web‐based game about atrial fibrillation (AFib). Beating Your Odds has five mini games that will educate you on disease awareness, recognition of stroke signs and symptoms, treatment options, shared‐decision making, and medication adherence. Download your virtual rewards after each game. Play Now. The Beating Your Odds Game is sponsored by Bristol‐Myers Squibb and Pfizer. Rock Your Scar Rocks in 2016! The Rock Your Scar CHD awareness campaign and photo contest rocked this year more than ever before. We had a record (over double past years) more than 1,200 photo submissions, and this campaign was shared all over the nation and beyond. We boosted the Rock Your Scar posts on Facebook, and during that time we had over 700 new followers as a result. (If you're like many of us and don't know what "boosted" means, we paid for the posts to show up in Facebook feeds for targeted populations.) National Spokesperson and actor, Valerie Azlynn, led this campaign once again to inspire and empower those living with CHD, particularly tweens, teens and young adults. At least two Mended Little Hearts groups, Fresno, CA and Winston Salem, NC, had live photo events, and one of the photos from the Fresno event won the 5‐8 age group. Children's Hospital of Wisconsin actually showed the Rock Your Scar videos and promoted the contest at their awareness event. Winners were announced at 1:10 (for 1 in 110 babies born with CHD) each day of CHD Awareness Week, and this year there was even a People's Choice winner with over 1,000 votes. Also for the first time www.rockyourscar.net was created so it was easy to get to the contest and campaign information. 2016 Roar 'N Run Most Successful Year Yet Thank you to everyone who participated, promoted, started teams and joined teams for the 2016 Roar 'N Run. Because of your efforts, we were able to raise $40,000, had over 700 participants sign up and saw 219 teams register. Funds raised through this event will go directly to support families through our Bravery Bag program, our hospital visiting program, expanding our Mended Little HeartGuide parent resource and creating a new support program for tweens and teens. Here are the highlights from this impactful event: 
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The leading fundraising group "Sweet Angel Ryan" raised $3420
Mended Little Hearts of Dallas was our leading group with $2000
The team with the greatest amount of participants was Mended Little
Hearts of West Michigan; 24 people raised funds on their behalf
90 percent of Mended Little Heart groups registered a team
Three MLH regions had 100 percent participation: Central, Northeast,
Western
Remember Our Hearts Candle Lighting and Journaling During CHD Awareness Week, Jen DeBouver once again led powerful awareness and support activities for those families who have lost children to congenital heart disease. On February 10, Mended Little Hearts asked that everyone light a candle in remembrance of those who lost their battle with CHD. Social media posts on February 10 to honor CHD angels reached over 122,000 people. Jen also led a journaling exercise where families could share their children and their stories with each other (and others if they chose) to find support and healing. Jen says that the most important thing for all to remember is that families don't want their children to be forgotten. Mended Little Hearts is proud to help ensure we all remember them. New Chapter Development Guidelines Approved The Mended Hearts Board of Directors approved new guidelines for forming chapters at its February meeting. The major change is that a new Mended Hearts chapter may be formed with a minimum of ten members and three officers. Current satellites may apply for a chapter charter petition, if desired, but not mandatory. The changes were initiated by the Chapter Development Task Force, chaired by Millie Henn, Executive Vice President. "The purpose was to simplify the new chapter process and remove barriers to forming a new support group. The intent is that each chapter would grow in membership and begin visiting programs in the community, church, hospital or cardiac rehab center," said Millie Henn. Millie thanks the members of her task force for their service the past several months: Bill Carter (Mid‐Atlantic), Patrick Farrant (Western), Larry Mantle (Midwest), Bruce Norris (Central), Sue Trinque (Northeast), and Mike Weber (Southern). In mid‐February, Patrick Farrant, VP and Millie Henn hosted three teleconferences for Regional Directors and Assistant Regional Directors to discuss the new guidelines. Key success factors were shared by RDs and ARDs who have developed new chapters and satellites. For any questions regarding the new guidelines, please contact Marcia Baker, Director of Field Services at [email protected] . Annual Reports Thank you to all the chapters who completed annual reports by the January 31 deadline. ARDs and RDs are now reviewing the data submitted online. Should questions or clarifications arise, ARDs and RDs may be phoning chapter officers this month. National staff members will be compiling cumulative reports by region to summarize patient and family visits, number of accredited visitors, and finances in March. Mended Hearts Welcomes New Staff
Members and Announces Promotions
Mended Hearts is pleased to announce three new staff members have joined the team. Member Services Coordinator ‐ Jessica Iga Jessica Iga earned her stripes in several positions over ten years at American Heart Association, where she worked in corporate relations, charitable estate planning, regional affiliate support and customer service. We are excited to add this talented and articulate professional to our staff. Jessica started in the Dallas office on February 15th. Director of Patient Advocacy ‐ Andrea Baer Andrea Baer will be our first Director of Patient Advocacy and started her position on February 8th. As many of you know, Andrea is an accomplished volunteer who has given thousands of hours of service to Mended Hearts (as a member of the Executive Committee and Board) and to Mended Little Hearts. She is a tireless and energetic leader who oversaw the creation and implementation of Mended Little Hearts' first strategic plan and who has provided vision and focus during the greatest period of growth MLH has ever had. Andrea recently graduated summa cum laude from Walden University and was a recipient of the President's Medal. Her powerful work ethic, knowledge of heart disease and passion for the mission placed her above the dozen candidates we considered for the position. Andrea will work from her home in Pennsylvania. Accounts Receivable/Data Entry Clerk ‐ Heather Freeman Heather Freeman joins Mended Hearts as a part‐
time accounts receivable data entry clerk on February 9th. Heather is a recent graduate from Texas A&M University‐Texarkana and has recently moved to Dallas to attend the Southern Methodist University to complete a Master's degree. Heather has previously worked in customer service and real‐
estate operations where she acquired skills in accounting and data management. Mended Hearts is also pleased to announce the promotion of three current staff members. Manager of Field Communications ‐ Mandy Sandkuhler A well‐respected staff member, Mandy Sandkuhler handles a tremendous amount of work and member interactions with kindness, knowledgeability and aplomb. Her natural journalism skills made her the absolute best candidate for managing our magazine. Under her leadership and work with our new publisher, Heartbeat Magazine has become a dynamic, delightful expression of our mission. Mandy works from her home in Atlanta, Georgia. Patient Network Coordinator ‐ Rene' Battles Rene' Battles has proven her strong work ethic and passion for customer service in both of the jobs she has held prior to this new appointment. Rene' started out as our part‐time shipping clerk and quickly distinguished herself with her organization skills. In her next role, she further refined and clarified the Member Services Coordinator position, having created Standard Operating Procedures for both positions. In her new role, which is a new position for the organization, we expect Rene' to do her usual magic by defining the domains of website management, patient network reporting and support for the upcoming online patient communities. Rene' works in the Dallas office. Director of Corporate Development and Programs‐ Jessica Deering Jessica Deering has been promoted from Director of Programs to this newly defined position. During her 2½ years with Mended Hearts, Jessica has demonstrated her expertise in managing multiple, complex projects and building great relationships. Her steady leadership and quiet, deft management style have been major factors in growing our sponsorship income. Jessica works from her home in Washington, DC. www.mendedhearts.org [email protected] Mended Hearts/Mended Little Hearts,
8150 N. Central Expwy., M2248, Dallas, TX 75206
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