Cardiac Support Group Forming

Mended Hearts, a national and community-based non-profit cardiovascular support network, will be starting a chapter at Brigham and Women’s/Mass. General Health Care Center at Patriot Place in Foxboro. Meetings will be held on the third Wednesday of each month from 6 to 8 p.m. The group’s charter meeting will be held on January 18.
Bellingham resident Bill Golden underwent quintuple bypass surgery in February of 2016. While participating in cardiac rehab at the Health Care Center, he learned of the Mended Hearts organization. The nearest chapter was in Woonsocket, R.I., so Golden agreed to help start a chapter at Patriot Place.
“I do like support groups. I know I need one,” said Golden. Mended Hearts, he adds, “takes over from where the doctors leave off after the surgeries.”
Mended Hearts provides peer-to-peer support, with members discussing issues such as depression after diagnosis and surgery, as well as experiences with treatment, recovery, and lifestyle changes. Usually facilitated by a cardiac rehab specialist, the meetings also include guest speakers from various hospitals, as well as presentations about heart aids like Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators (ICDs).
Founded in 1951 by Dr. Dwight E. Harken at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Mended Hearts provides education and hope for heart disease patients, as well as their families and caregivers. There are over 300 chapters of the organization in the United States.
For more information about the January 18 meeting, contact Bill Golden at 508-966-2568 or by email at [email protected]. To learn more about the Mended Hearts organization, visit www.mendedhearts.org or contact Lindsay Sonis, RN, MSN at 508-718-4072 or by email at [email protected].