Mended Hearts Internet Bulletin
August 2010
Exposure on the ‘Today Show’, official notice of bylaws
changes, an election reminder, solid (and growing) visiting numbers from
the cath lab, results from the membership drive last spring, news of
16-17,000 visitors to Mended Hearts Web site each month, an anticipated
launch of a new look for Mended Hearts Web site, and a great new (and
FREE!) tool for patients at discharge round out this issue of your
Internet Bulletin…
Mended Little Hearts Makes the Today
Show!
On August 5, Mended Little Hearts visibility got a major boost by
the appearance of one our group coordinators and her children on the
“Today Show”. While looking for ways to spread awareness about CHD,
Angee Brock, coordinator for Mended Little Hearts of Mississippi,
discovered the Today Show’s “Everyone Has a Story” contest. Knowing
this was the perfect opportunity to share her daughter’s story about her
fight with CHD, Angee wrote an essay and sent photos to paint the picture
of their struggle. She included the fight to keep Riley alive, her
treatments and surgery over the past two years, the ways she has found to
help her cope and what she hopes and expects the future to hold for Riley.
Of 5,000 entries, Angee found out in late July her story was one of three
finalists who could win a trip to New York City to tell her story on the
air. On Monday, Aug. 2, she found out on the phone, live, while on
the air, that her story was chosen! Angee and her children appeared
with hosts Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kodt where she shared her
story and how important Mended Little Hearts has been in helping
them through their journey. Here’s a link to the segment…http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/38577269#38577269
Bylaws Change Allows for Two New Mended
Little Hearts (MLH) Positions to Be Added to National Board
While on the subject of MLH, chapters recently approved a change to the
national bylaws that creates two new positions on the National Board of
Directors. This includes a Vice President of Mended Little
Hearts and a Director position. Both positions will be nominated and
voted on by MLH groups in a one-vote-per group manner similar to the
Mended Hearts election procedure of one vote-per-chapter for the top
Mended Hearts officers. Information is being readied to send to MLH
groups this month. Both positions were recommended and approved by
the National Board of Directors in May and the bylaws ratification by
chapters allows the change.
Election 2011 Update, Reminder
A widespread distribution of the Elections Procedures document took place
this summer, and potential candidates for MH positions have until
September 17 to send in their Intent to Serve and Resume forms to Wayne
Lawson, chairman of the Nominating Committee. Mended Little
Hearts Elections Procedures, as noted above, are being sent to groups this
month. MLH candidates will have until October 1 to get their
paperwork filed.
Cath Patient Outreach Program Going Strong;
First Two Month Reports Show Solid Patient and Family Reach
Chairman Steve Stanko, national chairman of MH’s new Cath Patient Outreach
Program, reports that the 14 chapters in Phase I of the program (last
year’s efforts served as the inaugural pilot) are reporting a combined
total of 1,565 visits to cath patients and their families
since formally tracking for the months of June and July. Of these,
more than a third, or 590 of those visited, have agreed
to participate in six-month follow-up questions as part of the Phase I
program, far exceeding expectations. Visitors are reporting largely
favorable response to the program and materials by not only patients and
families, but cath lab personnel as well. The visitors from these chapters
in Phase I meet on a regular basis by conference call to compare notes and
they described the new materials during the most recent call as
“impressive, effective and well received”.
Membership Drive Last Spring Yields Positive
Outcomes
The tallies are in and it looks like the Membership Drive presented by the
newly formed Membership Growth Committee produced a total of 565
new members last spring, during a three-month period. Of these, 34
were Members-at-Large, but several chapters managed to recruit 10 or more
new members during the period. A full breakdown of which chapters
recruited which number of new members is attached. Particular
recognition goes to the following chapters (followed by the number of new
members recruited): Chapter 363 (30 members);
Chapter 364 (25 members); Chapter 127
(19 members); Chapter 339 (13 members); Chapters
38, 50, 161, and 315
(11 members) and Chapters 216, 335,
361 (10 members). Hats off to these chapters for their
efforts. Hard copies of the Membership Drive Kits, including
Benefits of Mended Hearts Membership, can be found on the
password-protected Officers site within Mended Hearts Web site.
Chapter officers who have not yet registered for a password may do so by
contacting
marti.samples@heart.org. Now, here’s the full listing of chapter
recruitment results, soon to appear in the fall issue of Heartbeat (due to
homes in mid-late September).
No Tangled Web Here; These Mended Hearts
Internet Sites Increasing Popular!
A recent review of ‘hits’ and visits to the Mended Hearts Web site shows
that since September 2009, there have been a total of 192,069 visits to
the Mended Hearts Web site, averaging about 16 – 17,000 visits per month.
As Mended Hearts continues to focus on reaching patients where they are –
in the hospital, at home, at work…these numbers are revealing, showing an
interest in our program we must be careful not to underestimate. In
the past year, we have upped our presence on the Web with the creation of
a Mended Hearts Facebook fan page and a new Blog – both reachable by
hitting the icons on our home page of the Web site. We now have
517 Facebook Fans and the Blog averages about
40-50 visitors a day! If you haven’t checked these out
lately – here’s the link to our home page and the Facebook and Blog links
are in the upper righthand corner.
www.mendedhearts.org. On the blog site, you’ll find a beautiful
picture from Chapter 50 Rochester, NY’s summer picnic
meeting. By going to “Archives” in the right-hand column…you can
also go to former Blog postings and see a variety of interesting
activities – all Mended Hearts and Mended Little Hearts related.
If your chapter is interested in posting information about your
activities, member accomplishments or features, event updates – just let
us know by writing to
media@mendedhearts.org. This is the preferred way to get a
posting…responding to “Comments” on the blog is also fine, but will only
show in that area. Articles, photos, updates should be posted by
writing to the
media@mendedhearts.org address.
Coming Soon! New look for the Mended
Hearts Web Site
Speaking of the Web…Internet Bulletin readers may remember that we
announced late last spring that Mended Hearts had been chosen by the
award-winning design firm Imc2 for pro bono work to enhance the look, feel
and capabilities of our Web site. Mended Hearts staff and
volunteers, including Mended Little Hearts National Committee
Chairman Susan Vanderpool, met with Imc2 staff just
before the convention in Minneapolis to begin work on the redesign.
Work has continued behind the scenes over the summer and members can
expect a launch of the new look next month. We’ll keep you ‘posted’
on the launch, but right now it looks to be mid-September.
New Free Tool – Taking Care of Myself:
A Guide for When I Leave the Hospital
As most members well know by now, Mended Hearts’ valuable partner in the
Cath Patient Outreach Program is the Society for Cardiovascular
Angiography and Interventions (SCAI). This organization of the
nation’s interventional cardiologists is proving to be allies to Mended
Hearts on many fronts. Just last week they alerted us to a new
resource for patients that was developed by the Agency for Healthcare
Research and Quality (AHRQ) titled, “Taking Care of Myself: A Guide
for When I Leave the Hospital” which may be found at
http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/goinghomeguide.htm as a downloadable and
printable file – also available in Spanish.
That’s it for the August issue of the ‘IB’, see you in September!
Tim Elsner
Executive Director
The Mended Hearts, Inc.
7272 Greenville Avenue
Dallas, Texas 75231-4596
214.360.6150
214.360.6145 FAX
tim.elsner@heart.org
www.mendedhearts.org