Reaching Underserved Populations
“We always say that Mended Hearts® is the best-kept secret — and that’s even truer in communities where we don’t have a big presence of a chapter,” said Dr. Fredonia Williams, an assistant regional director (ARD) for Mended Hearts® in the Southern region.
“Even when we do, it’s not always easy to get to people who are not close to a hospital, or who don’t have access to internet or those kinds of things. They’re left out,” she said. “We call those the underserved populations.”
Williams and other members of The Mended Hearts, Inc. (MHI) see a vast opportunity for the organization to inspire hope and improve quality of life for patients with heart disease and their families through ongoing peer-to-peer support, an opportunity unlimited by the walls of a hospital.
“As Mended Hearts has evolved, we’ve seen the need to include and involve more than hospitals to get people involved in our mission,” Williams noted.
In addition to her role as an ARD, Williams serves on an MHI task force devoted to finding opportunities to reach underserved communities and include more diversity among membership. “In my circle, I have sororities and fraternities, church ministries and beauty shops,” Williams said. “Every church in my community has a health ministry.” While there is discussion and support for people with certain health conditions in these circles, Williams rarely hears any communication about heart disease.
“Probably 75 percent of churches have a cancer support group,” she estimated, “but people don’t talk about heart disease, because it is something they think they brought on themselves.”
Williams understands the assumption well. In 2008, she was battling heart disease. “I didn’t want to talk about it,” she remembered, “even though I didn’t have high blood pressure, nor was I over- weight.” Once she started telling family members about her diagnosis, Williams found out that there was a great deal of heart disease on her father’s side of the family. His death at 51 from colon cancer prevented her from knowing about the risks she had inherited. “I didn’t know any of this!” she said.
Finding Places to Connect
That discovery has driven Williams’ desire to talk about heart disease and help her community understand their risks for it. The MHI task force looks for avenues to get the education, information and support offered by Mended Hearts®, Young Mended HeartsTM and Mended Little Hearts® directly into the hands of people who may not have access to care either in-person or online, those who may not have a medical home, and those who may feel disenfranchised from the traditional health care system.
“I saw the need for our group to reach out past the hospital and get other people involved,” noted Williams, pointing out the importance of engagement at the community level. In mid-2021, Williams happened by a healthcare facility under construction on the campus of Oakwood University, a historically African-American uni- versity located in Huntsville, Alabama. The facility houses the Community Health Action Center, a clinic that helps serve underrepresented communities in Huntsville by offering outpatient services including check-ups.
Seeing an opportunity to engage people served by the clinic, Williams introduced Mended Hearts to the health-care team there. Williams gave the nurses and staff brochures and other information about heart disease to pass along to patients and educated them on the support offered by Mended Hearts and its members. “They were so glad to get these materials,” Williams said.
She also made sure that the information included her own phone number. Williams says this enables her to provide direct peer-to-peer support outside of the hospital setting or a meeting, including answering questions or making referrals. “You’re right there in the community, and those people know you,” noted Williams. “They’re not frightened of you.”
Her phone number has served as a lifeline for help and support: Williams has received questions from a woman who had recently had a heart attack and needed guidance; a person who had had a coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) procedure and wondered how long the chest soreness would last; and another who called about the link between heart disease and depression.
“Sometimes, they’re afraid to mention those things to their doctor,” Williams said. “The person who had the soreness said her doctor didn’t believe her.” Williams asked if the woman could be more specific about the pain in her chest when she went back in to see her doctor, and instructed her on how to do that. “You have to be your own advocate,” she said.
Williams looks forward to adding more community organizations and clinics to the Mended Hearts fold. She and her fellow task force members are seeking ways to broaden the reach at the level of individual communities, customizing the approach to ensure it meets the needs of the people there.
“I’m proud that Mended Hearts is branching out into communities and looking at places other than traditional hospital settings,” said Williams. “My hope is that in two years, our membership (of MHI) begins to look more like our population. I know there are people who look like me who have these issues. I would hope that somewhere down the road, while I’m still doing this, I can see some change in the community that we’re serving, even just by getting these community groups involved. “We just have to look around and see what is there.”
Making a Difference Through Community Outreach
At Mended Hearts Chapter 359, hosted at the Maimonides Medical Center in Boro Park, Brooklyn, one may hear 90 different languages and dialects spoken within a four-block vicinity of the hospital, which is located in one of the most ethnically diverse communities in the nation. The rich diversity of the neighborhood should be reflected in the local Mended Hearts chapter, according to Linda Miele, the chapter’s president.
“This is a very important issue and goal for us in our very unique borough of Brooklyn, New York,” Miele said, talking about the chapter’s mission to reach underserved communities. Miele says the chapter has two main priorities: providing peer-to-peer support through the hospital and getting out there in the community to spread the word about the education, advocacy and peer-to-peer support offered by Mended Hearts.
To help with this effort, Miele invited Rosalind Pettiford — author, motivational speaker, and her friend — to
help share the Mended Hearts message. Pettiford, a uterine cancer survivor, had experienced success in sharing her message of cancer prevention and awareness by working with local faith- based organizations. She has written a book about her experience to help others walking the same journey, and uses her social influence to advocate for the sharing of information and support.
“Without Rosalind, I would not be able to do what I’m now doing,” Miele said. Pettiford started a cancer ministry
at her church, First Baptist Church of Crown Heights, Brooklyn, to fulfill a need she saw for information and awareness, first for cancer and now for heart disease. “I decided we needed more community,” said Pettiford.
“We were afraid to ask questions, and I think that comes from people of African-American descent not totally trusting doctors,” said Pettiford, who references a history of unethical experimentation on minorities that has led to distrust of the medical system among marginalized communities. “But we feel more comfortable in our church ‘living room.’”
Miele brought Pettiford into the Mended Hearts cause and now the two work together, speaking at churches, exhibiting at health fairs — a first for this Mended Hearts chapter — and bring- ing new members into Mended Hearts. “She got me, my brother and my mother involved – everyone!” Pettiford said of Miele.
Miele also praised the Liberty Kiwanis Brooklyn Club and its president, Penny Santo, as “vital supporters” of the Mended Hearts chapter over the last few years. She noted the club has donated money to the chapter and allowed Miele to speak to its members on multiple occasions. As a result, many members of the Kiwanis Club are now members of Mended Hearts Chapter 359.
Emphasizing Access to Healthcare and Peer-to-Peer Support
“I learned of Mended Hearts’ national goals to increase awareness of our organi- zation and to get into communities that are underserved,” said Miele, who is a travel agent as well as a teacher of English as a second language. “I look at the community very, very deeply and there are many people who feel that health care has not been accessible in the way they need for them. Women, in particular, don’t feel included.”
Peer-to-peer support — the tenet of the MHI mission — is one of the strongest ways of facilitating healing for patients, said Miele, who emphasized the need for reaching every person who could be, or is, impacted by heart disease.
“We are not doctors, and we do not use medical jargon,” noted Miele. “We just connect with people.”
Building Trust and Connections
Going to visit ministries has been “a very humbling experience,” according to Miele. She said these are “safe places” that help inspire trust among her community.
“Trust has to be the first thing,” notes Miele. “Then we try to identify what people need and give them information for what they want.”
As a result of these efforts, Chapter 359 has a presence in the community beyond the hospital and has increased chapter membership. Most important, though, are the one-on-one connections that Miele and Pettiford are making with people in the community who are now reaching out for help and information.
Miele tears up as she talks about a gentleman in her community who is originally from Haiti and is now adjust- ing to living a life with heart disease.
“He asked me, ‘What do I cook? What do I do?’ He has called me from a restaurant, not knowing what to order. Some- times, when people find out about their heart condition, they are very afraid. I tell them to call me. I’ve even brought them together to speak with one another because that one-on-one connection is important.”
When the man called Miele because he was experiencing pain, she urged him to go to the emergency room. Physicians sub- sequently discovered two blockages, and the patient needed a stent. Thanks to quick action, the man received the stent and has since recovered from the procedure.
“I strongly feel that because of what we’re learning from Mended Hearts and the one-on-one support we’re giving and receiving, his life was saved!” said Miele with gratitude in her voice. “There is great comfort in knowing we don’t have to be alone while managing heart disease.”
Pettiford pointed to the importance of sharing information — when, where and how someone is ready to receive it — with people who need it. A Mended Hearts presence outside of hospital walls is a vision Miele and others know makes a difference — for people, families and communities. This is especially the case for those who are underserved and underrepresented.
“We want people to be healthier and have the information to be healthier,” maintained Pettiford. “ There’s a lot
of information out there, and people need it.”
