The Cedars-Sinai Heart Center offers a variety of programs to support patients as they face the challenges of heart conditions.

As part of patient education, the Heart Families volunteers are available to you. They comprise a very special group of men and women who have experienced a cardiac crisis themselves or in their immediate family. They are specially trained volunteers who have felt the fear and loneliness and survived.

Heart Families volunteers help cardiac patients undergoing procedures or heart surgery, as well as their families, by offering emotional support on a person-to-person basis, helping you understand and better use medical and hospital services, serving as a liaison with other Medical Center staff and acquainting you with methods to make home care simpler and easier.

In addition to their own personal experience with cardiac problems, Heart Families volunteers undergo extensive training at Cedars-Sinai, working under the supervision of a licensed clinical social worker. They are supported by a team consisting of the director of Volunteer Services and representatives from nursing, psychiatry, pediatrics, medicine and surgery.

The Heart Families Program has been honored by the American Hospital Association's awards under the Volunteer Excellence Program. They also travel to other national hospitals to provide guidance to cardiac programs for developing volunteer programs.

The Transplant Support Group meets every Wednesday from 1 to 2:30 p.m. It is open to all organ transplant recipients, candidates, family members and friends, including liver, kidney, pancreas, lung and heart transplants candidates. The meeting has a casual educational format with question-and-answer sessions and discussion. The group meets in Room 6159, on the sixth floor of the North Tower of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Parking is validated for Cedars-Sinai parking lots 1 and 2, and refreshments are served. For more information, contact: