Hope
It begins with you.
Our Chapter Objectives
We are heart patient and caregiver volunteers, adults young and old, providing support and hope to patients and their caregivers from the diagnosis of heart disease through treatment and beyond.
Mended Hearts
The Bellingham Chapter of Mended Hearts normally meets monthly to offer support and information to all heart patients in our community. Our speakers are cardiologists, heart surgeons, nutritionists, and other health care professionals who offer insights into improving our heart health.
For more information please go to our Contact Page to send a message or contact our message line at 360-788-6928.
From Our Interim
Chapter President,
Marilynn Huffman
Friendship That is Special
Over my last 80 plus years I have made many friends, but none is more special than the ones I have made in Mended Hearts.
One friendship in particular is very special. When our Mended Hearts chapter was chartered in 2012 we met over coffee at the hospital. From then on, we have had a special “I got your back” kind of friendship.
After my catastrophic fall in 2018 and I was no longer chapter president, she had my back. She brought full dinners for Jim and me. She brought food for the family after Jim passed away. We have worked together in the following years! She is a special blessing in my life!
Why I am I telling you this? Because some of my dearest friendships have been within our Mended Hearts Chapter 382.
Our Mended Hearts chapter started as a peer-to-peer support group, but it is that and much more. When I look over the guest book from Jim’s memorial service I see that it is filled with names of Mended Hearts members. I have a basket filled with cards of sympathy from these special friends. Bottom line is my life has been enriched greatly with friendships I have made within this group.
If you have been thinking about coming to a meeting and hopefully joining our ranks, please do. You will find our group full of individuals who care about each other, and that friendship is available to you.
I hope to see you at the next meeting and all the following ones. This is a group where you will not only find support, but you also find friends. I hope to see you soon.
Young Mended Hearts
Since April, 2015, we've been inviting all young heart patients (18 to 55) and their families to join other young heart patients and their families for an informal monthly get-together to discuss the common issues, challenges and successes of being a young heart patient.
Please join us. Follow us on Facebook!
Young Mended Hearts of NorthWest Washington
For more information about Young Mended Hearts, please contact Peter Kilcline at kilcline.p@gmail.com
or Dianna Konrad at dmk9@sbcglobal.net
Are You Having Open Heart
Surgery Soon?
Before You Do, Would You Like to Talk with
Someone Who Has?
You can get information and questions answered about what it’s like to go through open heart surgery by watching this video featuring two Mended Heart volunteers who share their experiences as open heart surgery patients. You can also speak with either of these volunteers by contacting them through our “Contact” page.
Our sincere thanks to PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center for their encouragement and production of this video.
Awards
Together, PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center and Mended Hearts Bellingham are making a difference in our community by supporting heart patients and their caregiver families. These efforts have been acknowledged by the international headquarters of The Mended Hearts, Inc., Albany, GA, with the following awards:
Dianna Konrad
2020 Western Region Volunteer of the Year
PeaceHealth St. Joseph’s Medical Center
2018 National Hospital of the Year
PeaceHealth St. Joseph’s Medical Center
2017 Regional Hospital of the Year
PeaceHealth St. Joseph’s Medical Center
2016 Regional Hospital of the Year
Mended Hearts, Bellingham
2015 President’s Cup Award
For outstanding service in our community
PeaceHealth St. Joseph’s Medical Center
2014 Regional Hospital of the Year
The Western Region of Mended Hearts chapters includes the states of California, Oregon, Nevada, Washington, Alaska and Hawaii
Bequests and Gifts
We sincerely appreciate the thoughtfulness and generosity behind the bequests and gifts given to our chapter. This helps us remember and honor those special people while continuing our promise to support all heart patients and their families in our community.
The Ingram Family, Shirley McCraw, The Bishop Family and The Dircks Family, all close friends of Charlie Heinemann and his family, have made a generous gift to our Mended Hearts chapter in memory of John Heinemann.
Scott Swanson presented a generous gift to our Mended Hearts chapter as a bequest from the estate of his parents, Philip and Joyce Swanson.
The estate of Stephen James Brewster made a significant donation to the PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center Foundation in honor of Mended Hearts, Bellingham. A cath lab patient room in St. Joseph’s Cardiovascular Center will be named:
Stephen James Brewster
In Honor of Mended Hearts