Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital Receives
$50,000 Grant to Help Heart Transplant Patients

HOUSTON (July 24, 2007) - The JLH Foundation has awarded the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital a $50,000 grant to help heart transplant patients and their families. Specifically, the funds will help support heart transplant patients with lodging, transportation, parking, meals and prescription co-payments.

“Heart transplant patients face significant challenges as they await transplantation and recover from surgery. This support from the JLH Foundation is vital to our patients and the families who care for them,” said Bud Frazier, M.D., chief of Cardiopulmonary Transplantation and director of Surgical Research at the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke’s. Dr. Frazier has performed more than 1,000 heart transplants, believed to be more than any other surgeon. [Read the stories of heart transplant recipients.]

The JLH Foundation was established in 1998 to honor the wishes of the late John L. Hern. The Foundation’s purpose is to support transplant patients and their families by providing financial assistance for medications, housing, parking and other incidental expenses, and to promote awareness of the importance of organ donation.

Mr. Hern, a heart transplant patient himself, spent many months in the hospital awaiting a donor heart. He saw first hand the need of other transplant recipients and their families and he wanted to help. A JLH Foundation spokesperson says that during Mr. Hern’s lifetime he was a very generous person, and the JLH Foundation Board is glad that it can support his vision and carry forth his generosity.

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The Texas Heart Institute, founded by world-renowned cardiovascular surgeon Dr. Denton A. Cooley in 1962, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing the devastating toll of cardiovascular disease through innovative and progressive programs in research, education and improved patient care. Together with its clinical partner, St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, it has been ranked among the top ten cardiovascular centers in the United States by U.S.News & World Report’s annual guide to “America’s Best Hospitals” for the past 17 years. The Texas Heart Institute is also affiliated with the University of Texas (UT) System, which promotes collaboration in cardiovascular research and education among UT and THI faculty at the Texas Heart Institute and other UT components. For more information about the Institute, please visit www.texasheart.org.

Contact:
Kathy Watson
Texas Heart Institute
832-355-6569
kwatson@heart.thi.tmc.edu