Articles

• Heart and circulation articles from PubMed of the National Library of Medicine.  The articles listed here tend to be highly technical research papers, but careful searching of the articles can often uncover important and useful information.  

Forums

If you join one of these support groups, please mention that you found their group through Medconsumer.info.

• BeingSick · A global community of loving people who understand what its like to be sick or care for a loved one.  "We are a community of loving supportive people who understand what its like to be sick. We live with illness, injury, disability, or care for those that do. This group is a place where you are free to be yourself. Share your frustrations about being sick, friendships, family, and just about anything! We are the family who understands when no one else does! We live your life too! You are welcome to post in HTML, colors, send links, web pages, poems, inspiration, e-cards, jokes, chat in our chat room anytime! We are non-denominational, welcoming all races, ages, religions and cultures. We know how tough life is being sick, and we care. There is support for you here anytime you need us. You are not alone."  Yahoo! group.  
• Doea's Cardiac Support group - A club for support with heart disease.  "Welcome to my club on heart disease. Do you have heart disease? Well hopefully here you can meet others in the same boat as you, get some morale support, find out info about your disease and medications and even help others who just need to talk to someone with heart disease."
• Heart Disease: Support Group provided by Web MD.
• Medconsumerinfo.  "Medconsumer.info is your starting point for searching the Web for medical information. This forum exists for you to discuss, ask questions, and answer questions about any aspect of health, healthcare industry, and any aspect of being a patient. Please take whatever advice you receive through this forum to your doctor before changing or initiating any medically-related behavior."  Yahoo! group.    
• Med Help Medical Specialty Forums (Message Boards).  The Heart Forum.  "Questions posted in the Heart Forum are being answered by doctors from the Cleveland Clinic Heart Center."   

Merchandise

• Blood pressure measuring products from Amazon.com.
• Cholesterol testing products from Amazon.com.  
• Heart rate monitors available through Amazon.com.

News

• Cardiovascular disease news from Google News.
• Heart disease news from Google News. 

Organizations

Canada

• Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada.  "The Heart and Stroke Foundation is a national voluntary non-profit organization whose mission is to improve the health of Canadians by preventing and reducing disability and death from heart disease and stroke through research, health promotion and advocacy. The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada is a Federation of 10 independent Provincial Foundations and one National Office, led and supported by a force of more than 130,000 volunteers.
  • Throughout its history, the Foundation has relied on the generous financial support of thousands of Canadians.
  • The Foundation receives no operational funding from government sources.
  • In 2002, the provincial and national Foundations spent approximately $73 million to support research and health promotion programs."

United States

• American Heart Association.  "The American Heart Association is a national voluntary health agency whose mission is to reduce disability and death from cardiovascular diseases and stroke."
• The American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP).  "The American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) is a medical specialty society of physicians, surgeons, allied health professionals, and individuals with PhD degrees who specialize in diseases of the chest: pulmonology, cardiology, cardiovascular and cardiothoracic surgery, hypertension, critical care medicine, and related disciplines. The ACCP creates a unique multidisciplinary approach to cardiopulmonary medicine where pulmonologists, cardiologists, thoracic surgeons, and others can come together at College events for an experience not available from other sources—examination of a topic from a perspective that encompasses all of the major specialties involved." 
• Heart Care International.  "The immediate goal of Heart Care International is to provide open heart surgery for poor children and young adults in developing countries. This is accomplished by large annual mission trips of our teams to selected countries where we perform the operations. Currently, our large mission trips go to the Dominican Republic. Additionally, we continue to send small training mission teams to Guatemala.
  
  The long term goal of Heart Care International is to train local health care professionals in the medical and surgical management of heart disease, enabling them to provide heart care within their own community. We are achieving this both by training local surgeons and staff during our annual missions and by bringing several of them to the United States."
• The Heart Institute for Children.  "The Heart Institute for Children (THIC) , founded in 1987, is dedicated to clinical excellence, education and research in the field of congenital and acquired heart disease in children and young adults. Clinical care includes the latest and the most advanced technology. Research is directed towards clinical cardiology as well as basic molecular biology."
• Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Association (HCMA).  "The Objectives of the HCMA:
  • Develop and maintain a network of support for people with HCM and their families.
  • Promote education about the symptoms and treatment options among those with HCM, their families and those having professional care of HCM patients.
  • To heighten awareness and protect against sudden death and life threatening arrhythmia.
  • Develop and maintain a network of healthcare professionals educated in the treatment of the condition.
  • Promote researching the condition and its treatment and provide access to research results.
• International Society for Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery.  "The International Society for Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery was formed to organize and centralize the various surgical centers concerned with patient outcomes, techniques, and progessive development of less invasive forms of heart surgery. Formed on May 31, 1997 by the participants of the World Congress of Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery at the Palais Des Congres, Paris France, the new ISMICS is taking the leadership role in shaping the direction of less invasive cardiac surgery on a global basis.The founding membership includes representatives from all continents. The first President chosen by the meeting participants at the World Congress was Robert W. Emery, M.D. of the Minneapolis Heart Institute. Advisory Panel members were selected, a listServ was created for communication, and the official journal was designated to be The Heart Surgery Forum™. At the completion of the Paris meeting, the Advisory Panel recommended that future meetings of the World Congress of Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery alternate between Paris and Minneapolis, with additional venues on every 3rd or 4th year."
• Karen Yontz Women’s Cardiac Awareness Center.  "The Karen Yontz Women's Cardiac Awareness Center's mission is to increase awareness of the incidence of cardiac disease in women, promote education related to the effects of cardiac disease and proper methods of prevention, and support research into the causes and advanced treatment modalities of cardiac disease.
  
  We hope your visit to The Karen Yontz Center website gives you renewed hope, important direction, and the motivation you need to start making a real difference in your heart health. After all, caring for women’s hearts is what we’re all about.
  
  Our website is devoted exclusively to heart health information. Health risk assessments, surveys, physician interviews and links to other recommended websites are just some of the services available online. It's another way we're able to reach women in their workplace, or at home, when it's most convenient."
• The Mended Hearts, Inc.  "Hearts, a national nonprofit organization affiliated with the American Heart Association, has been offering the gift of hope to heart disease patients, their families and caregivers for more than 50 years. Recognized for its role in facilitating a positive patient-care experience, Mended Hearts partners with 460 hospitals and rehabilitation clinics and offers services to heart patients through visiting programs, support group meetings and educational forums. Our mission is to "inspire hope in heart disease patients and their families."
  
  Because Mended Hearts is made up of the very kinds of people it serves—heart patients, their families, and others impacted by heart disease, its members draw on personal experience as they help others. Mended Hearts support groups help people understand that there can be a rich, rewarding life after heart disease. Members listen, share their experiences, learn from healthcare professionals and volunteer to talk to other heart patients about what they may face including lifestyle changes, depression, recovery, and treatment. Annually, Mended Hearts volunteers make 227,000 hospital visits to patients and 30,000 visits to family members and caregivers."
• National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI).  "The Institute plans, conducts, fosters, and supports an integrated and coordinated program of basic research, clinical investigations and trials, observational studies, and demonstration and education projects. Research is related to the causes, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of heart, blood vessel, lung, and blood diseases; and sleep disorders. The NHLBI plans and directs research in development and evaluation of interventions and devices related to prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation of patients suffering from such diseases and disorders. It also supports research on clinical use of blood and all aspects of the management of blood resources. Research is conducted in the Institute's own laboratories and by scientific institutions and individuals supported by research grants and contracts."

Regional

Florida

• Florida Heart Research Institute.  "Founded in 1944 as the Miami Heart Research Institute."  "We believe that through basic and clinical research combined with education about the causes and risk factors, heart disease can be eradicated. Research discoveries benefit all humanity, and education promotes informed choices, thereby improving outcomes and quality of life. Miami Heart Research Institute has been a leader in cardiovascular research and education for nearly 60 years. We take an active role in combating this devastating disease and will continue our mission to prevent and cure the nation's leading cause of death and disability until heart disease is truly eliminated. Today's research is tomorrow's cure."

Minnesota

Minneapolis

• Minneapolis Heart Institute.  "The Minneapolis Heart Institute is recognized internationally as one of the world's leading heart institutes. We are committed to making a difference in the quality of life of the people we serve, both here in our own community and around the world."

South Carolina

Charleston

• The Mended Hearts, Inc.  "Mended Hearts is not just a survivor's club. It is an outreach group dedicated to encouraging heart patients and their families through pre-operative and post-operative hospital visits, providing educational programs at monthly meetings, being physical examples of ones who have also been through the trauma of a heart event, and offering understanding and support. Such contacts help patients adapt and flourish more, and help families and friends cope with the future."

  Roper St. Francis Healthcare.  "...the leading provider of adult cardiac services in Charleston. We are dedicated to educating and caring for cardiac patients through innovative treatments delivered by skilled and compassionate physicians and staff members."

Photographs Heart and Circulation photographs from Google Images. Testing Home testing for Cholesterol.  Click the button to obtain testing information. Videos Heart and Circulation videos from YouTube.com.