Halifax Health partners with Mended Hearts to help heart patients feel less alone

Ormond Beach Observer
Business

Will I be OK?

That’s the first thing a patient who has just woken up from surgery wants to know, and volunteers with Mended Hearts make it their mission to bring reassurance and comfort to those who need it most.

“It’s great to be alive and help others,” is the Mended Hearts motto.

Halifax Health has recently partnered with Mended Hearts, gathering a team of 12-14 people for a local chapter of the largest cardiovascular peer-to-peer support network in the world. Volunteers, such as Ormond Beach resident Rose Boeckman and Halifax Health Mended Hearts President Larry Berkowitz, visit patients two to three times a week at Halifax.

The volunteers have experienced similar surgeries as the patients and can offer their wisdom or give motivation.

Berkowitz had his open heart surgery in 2006, while living in New England. During recovery, he had the opportunity to speak with a team member from Mended Hearts.

“The support is what makes the difference,” he said. Not many people go through traumatic surgery in their lives, so for the ones who do, Mended Hearts can give support and a clear understanding of what a patient may be going through.

“It’s important for the local community to have support,” he said.

Boeckman also shared her story on why she joined Mended Hearts. After recovering from heart surgery at 61, she was visited by a member from Mended Hearts in her hospital room.

“It was the only visit I remember,” she said.

She said the team members were supportive and caring; she felt comfortable knowing other people understood what she was going through, as they, too, had heart surgeries similar to hers. “Volunteering with Mended Hearts gives me a chance to take a difficult experience and do something positive with it,” she said.

The Halifax Health Mended Hearts team also plans to create a “Mended Little Hearts” program at the hospital for children who have suffered with heart surgery and are looking for encouragement.

Mended Hearts volunteers hope to begin monthly meetings in September, at the hospital, and anyone is welcome. These meetings will be a chance to listen to guest speakers and other individuals who may be going through the same thing you are. For more information, visit www.mendedhearts.org.