CaroMont’s Mended Hearts program earns top national award

CaroMont Regional Medical Center was honored for showing heart for its cardiac patients.

Susan Murphy, CaroMont’s head nurse of cardiology, and Jake Gray, president of Mended Hearts Chapter 379, in June accepted the Hospital-of-the-Year award at the national Mended Hearts educational and training conference in Orlando, Fla.

Mended Hearts, a 64-year-old program based in Dallas, is a peer-to-peer support group for cardiac patients. A patient who has had a heart event can become an accredited Mended Hearts visitor so they can visit other heart patients in the hospital before or after surgery to offer support and share stories.

“We visit to give back and assure (patients) they can live productive lives by doing the right things,” said Jake Gray, who had triple by-pass surgery three years ago and president of Gastonia’s Mended Hearts chapter, sponsored by CaroMont Regional Medical Center.

A recent American College of Cardiology study shows hospitals with a strong Mended Hearts visiting unit saw a lower readmission rate of unplanned surgery within 30 days of a heart event than hospitals without the program.

Murphy says patients are more apt to take medications as prescribed and make recommended lifestyle changes.

“The patients are more compliant when they have Mended Hearts visitors,” she said.

Cardiologist Dustin Letts arrived at CaroMont four years ago and contacted mid-Atlantic Director Gerald Kemp to start the Mended Hearts program at CaroMont. Kemp enlisted the help of assistant regional director Bill Voerster of Charlotte.

“We expected a small group but decided to print 25 handouts anyway, which we thought was excessive for this interest meeting,” Kemp said. “To my surprise, over 75 interested patients attended.”

Now the three-year-old chapter has 130 members and 75 accredited visitors. It made 1,921 visits last year and logs up to 90 visits a month, often with members pairing up to make rounds, said Gray, who helped organize the local chapter with two friends, who also had suffered cardiac events. CaroMont provides meal tickets for accredited visitors, shirts and membership at the wellness center.

Mended Hearts members also participate in the American Heart Association Heart Walk and Gaston County’s Run for the Money, the chapter’s biggest fundraisers. The chapter awarded eight nursing scholarships last year and provided financial assistance to patients who needed rehab but couldn’t afford the co-pay.

“We have unconditional support from all departments and staff,” Gray said.

This story was originally published July 21, 2015 at 1:02 PM with the headline "CaroMont’s Mended Hearts program earns top national award."