Beebe’s Mended Hearts celebrates 10 years

344 has been in service — as a support group — dedicated to inspiring and improving the quality of life for heart patients in order to provide support and hope. 47 abc’s justina coronel has the story. track 1 heart disease is the number 1 killer of americans. totaling more than 600,000 deaths annually. fortunately, there are even more survivors, like joseph venerus. venerous is a member of mended hearts – a group that offers support for those who have had heart surgery or heart-related conditions. first of all we visit at the hospital, people who have had heart surgeries before and after the surgeries, we will visit them. and provide some assurance that they are going to be okay because they have had the same situation that the visitor has had. track 2 this cardiovascular peer-to-peer support group also hosts monthly meetings for emotional and mental support. some members also spend time helping recovering patients exercise at beebe’s cardiac rehabilitation center in rehoboth beach. beebe had the first certified program in delaware for cardiac rehab and its been in existence for more than 20 years. and we provide a traditional cardiac rehab program and an intensive cardiac rehab program. track 3 the cardiac rehab center’s manager says they work hand-in-hand with mended hearts. so mended hearts, we have a great relationship with them. one of our nurses sits on their board, we provide some of the educational programs for them, they also come in to talk to our patients that are in traditional cardiac rehab and give them another support group for patients who have been through open heart surgery. track 4 besides providing support to patients, they also give back to the community through an annual benefit. we’ll give some of it back to the cardiac rehab to purchase some equipment in the cardiac rehab area. we’ll also give to the beebe foundation. there’s an area in the beebe foundation that supports equipment for infants, newborns that have had heart problems. track 5 justina coronel 47 abc. during the 10 year period , beebe’s mended hearts chapters have escorted over 14-hundred patients for pre-admission testing and visited about 47-hundred hospital patients. the support group members encourage any one to stop by as the chapter meets on the third wednesday of every month. to find out more about meeting times and location– head over to our website at 47 abc dot com delaware residents could be facing health insurance increases in 20-17 under