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Downs to speak at Mended Hearts regional meeting
ETSU News Bureau
Issue date: 4/14/08 Section: The Scene
Several dedicated retirees and others from East Tennessee State University work alongside a number of community volunteers in Mended Hearts, a national affiliate of the American Heart Association, whose mission is to offer hope, compassion and support to heart patients, their families and caregivers.
Lynn Frierson is president of local Mended Hearts Chapter 259 which is hosting fellow representatives from Tennessee, Alabama and Florida for the inaugural Southern Regional Mended Hearts Cluster Meeting from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. on Monday (April 14) at Johnson City Medical Center.
The educational event includes speakers, breakfast, breaks, lunch and a tour of JCMC heart facilities.
Attendees will hear luncheon keynote speaker Dr. Chris Downs, cardiologist with ETSU Heart, and participate in sessions led by Gus Littlefield, regional director from Cocoa Beach, Fla., who will address HIPAA regulations and the effect on Mended Hearts chapters.
Morning speaker Tom Hornsby is an educator, consultant and author who was formerly with Eastman Chemical Co. and is now a principal with VisionWorks LLC as well as an adjunct professor of leadership development at Milligan College.
He has addressed numerous international, national and regional conferences. Gail Hawley, R.N. and coordinator with the Pain Resource Center who has been dubbed the "hospital clown," will speak out of costume Monday afternoon while teaching participants "how to laugh heartily for our heart's sake."
A heart survivor herself, Frierson says the local chapter was chartered 13 years ago and has 17 accredited visitors who try to see each patient who has had a heart attack, stents, pacemaker, by-pass or valve replacement to provide the patients and their caregivers with education and encouragement.
National statistics show that Mended Hearts-trained volunteers made over 177,000 in-person visits to patients and 28,409 in-person visits to family members and caregivers last year, in addition to several thousand online and phone connections. These support groups are living proof there can be "a rich, rewarding life after heart disease."
Mended Hearts has 18,900 members in 274 community-based chapters in the United States and two in Canada. Chapters partner with more than 423 hospitals and cardiac care facilities.
The program expanded in 2004 with the launch of Mended Little Hearts to include support to parents of children born with congenital heart defects and heart disease which affects some 36,000 infants per year in the U.S.
For more information on the upcoming meeting, contact Frierson at jlfrierson@chartertn.net.
Lynn Frierson is president of local Mended Hearts Chapter 259 which is hosting fellow representatives from Tennessee, Alabama and Florida for the inaugural Southern Regional Mended Hearts Cluster Meeting from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. on Monday (April 14) at Johnson City Medical Center.
The educational event includes speakers, breakfast, breaks, lunch and a tour of JCMC heart facilities.
Attendees will hear luncheon keynote speaker Dr. Chris Downs, cardiologist with ETSU Heart, and participate in sessions led by Gus Littlefield, regional director from Cocoa Beach, Fla., who will address HIPAA regulations and the effect on Mended Hearts chapters.
Morning speaker Tom Hornsby is an educator, consultant and author who was formerly with Eastman Chemical Co. and is now a principal with VisionWorks LLC as well as an adjunct professor of leadership development at Milligan College.
He has addressed numerous international, national and regional conferences. Gail Hawley, R.N. and coordinator with the Pain Resource Center who has been dubbed the "hospital clown," will speak out of costume Monday afternoon while teaching participants "how to laugh heartily for our heart's sake."
A heart survivor herself, Frierson says the local chapter was chartered 13 years ago and has 17 accredited visitors who try to see each patient who has had a heart attack, stents, pacemaker, by-pass or valve replacement to provide the patients and their caregivers with education and encouragement.
National statistics show that Mended Hearts-trained volunteers made over 177,000 in-person visits to patients and 28,409 in-person visits to family members and caregivers last year, in addition to several thousand online and phone connections. These support groups are living proof there can be "a rich, rewarding life after heart disease."
Mended Hearts has 18,900 members in 274 community-based chapters in the United States and two in Canada. Chapters partner with more than 423 hospitals and cardiac care facilities.
The program expanded in 2004 with the launch of Mended Little Hearts to include support to parents of children born with congenital heart defects and heart disease which affects some 36,000 infants per year in the U.S.
For more information on the upcoming meeting, contact Frierson at jlfrierson@chartertn.net.