Mended Little Hearts

Mended Little Hearts is a support program for parents of children with heart defects and heart disease. It is dedicated to inspiring hope in those who care for the littlest heart patients of all. Mended Little Hearts offers resources and a caring support network as families find answers and move forward to find healing and hope.

Partnering with hospitals to provide several programs, Mended Little Hearts connects families in crisis with other parents who have survived the shock of learning a child has a heart problem, navigated the maze of medical decisions and procedures, and mapped out a plan for the future.

You can learn more at the Mended Little Hearts website.

The Congenital Heart Futures Act
NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT!

We were excited to hear that The Congenital Heart Futures Act was introduced in the Senate and House of Representatives in March 2009. This bill calls for increased funding for research, a national registry, and funding for a national awareness and public education campaign.

Mended Little Hearts, along with our partners in the National Congenital Heart Coalition, need your help to get this important piece of legislation passed! Please take a moment to read the information below and find out how you can help and send an email to your representatives today!

In the Senate, Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois led the charge joined by Senator Thad Cochran of Mississippi. In the House, the bill's lead co-sponsors were Representative Zach Space of Ohio and Representative Gus Bilirakis of Florida. We are thrilled that this groundbreaking piece of legislation has already received bipartisan support. To learn more about the bill visit http://durbin.senate.gov/showRelease.cfm?releaseId=309944

So what's next? Like any piece of legislation, the Congenital Heart Futures Act has to get majority support in both the House and Senate in order to be passed. Please email your Senators and Congressman today to ask them to become a co-sponsor of this legislation, which is bill S. 621 in the Senate and H.R. 1570 in the House. It just takes a minute - here's how you do it:

Go to http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov/ to look up your representatives and their email addresses
Draft your email.
Make your letter personal to you.
Send your email. Be sure to include your full mailing address as well as your email address. Don't use US mail, since thanks to the anthrax scare it now takes many weeks for mail to arrive in Congress.

That's all there is to it!

If you are a constituent of Senators Durbin or Cochran or Representatives Space and Bilirakis, we encourage you to email or call their office and let them know how much you appreciate their leadership of this effort.

Need more information? Contact Amy Basken (amybasken@charter.net) or Jodi Lemacks (jodi.lemacks@mendedlittlehearts.org) with any questions.