The Mended Hearts, Inc.
Hearts of Jersey Chapter #179

September 2011

Presidents' Messages

Well the summer of 2011 is approaching its close, at least as far as the official season is concerned. As you all might know I spent most of my working life cleaning the water in California and New Jersey. I was looking back on the weather we experienced this summer and started thinking about how the environment appears to be changing. This brought about the thought of how can we all make a difference.

Saving a tree would be a good start, so I talked with the other board members and came up with the idea of starting to try and reduce our paper consumption for the newsletter. As you all might know the newsletter is already on our web page, but starting next month we are going to start sending out the newsletter as an email document to those members who would like to help us save some trees, not to mention mailing costs, which seems to be a subject on everyone’s mind these days. So we will be starting this project with the board members and once it is up and running will make it available to all interested members. I don’t have any illusions about this project and how long it will take to make a dent in how many trees we kill or how much postage we save. “Even the journey of a thousand mile has to start with the first step.”

I’m going to California on Monday for some much needed recharging of my batteries and I know I’m leaving chapter # 179 in the capable hands of our vice president with the support of the rest of the board and dedicated volunteers that keep our chapter running. So it’s only fitting for the rest of your September message to come from our past president Bill Ryan to bring you all up to speed on his move to Maryland.

When Matthew mentioned that he was going to California for some well deserved rest and relaxation, I agreed to fill some of his President’s message space to bring you up to date on the Ryans’ journey.

Greetings from Elkton, Maryland. I am told that Elkton used to be called the marriage capital of the East. Those days have long since passed and now we find it to be a charming small community just south of the Mason Dixon line. Our new home is in a golf course community; however, the high temperatures have prevented me from doing much more than putting practice occasionally in the early morning.

Ellie and I found it very difficult to leave New Jersey and our many friends. The wonderful sendoff party helped to put things into perspective. First, we didn’t have any choice. When the Army decides to move personnel and jobs there are no questions. Second the outpouring and warmth at the farewell party made us feel that the last seven years at JSUMC had been very successful. The plaque that Dennis presented to me is proudly displayed, the Guinness is long gone, the gifts and the gathering were most appreciated. By the way, Lillian has not sent any of the pictures, just an oversight. (wa2dnd@earthlink.net)

About this moving business. If you can avoid it by all means do so, especially during the summer. The army provided packing assistance by sending three packers two days before the move. They were very good at packing things but not too good at identifying what was in each box or where to put it. The movers took two days to load the truck that arrived in Maryland on Monday morning at 9:00 AM, July 11th, temperature 102 degrees. The lack of adequate identification confused the unloaders and the result was many misplaced boxes. We are still moving boxes and unloading them slowly but surely. We expect to finish sometime in January 2012. If you have to move be sure to get rid of as much stuff as possible. We still have 33 boxes of books to shelve but the shelves were not properly set up. I am still looking for a handyman to help with that project. I also need an electrician to install outlets that the builder forgot to install. A two car garage with just one outlet is unacceptable.

A major problem with this kind of move is the necessity to rebuild your medical support group. We found the place to start is with a Primary Care Physician. We chose a physician associated with a local hospital. Although the local hospital has a cardiology department, they do not have a catheterization lab. The nearest cath lab is at Christiana hospital in Newark, Delaware. I have not been able to make contact with the Mended Hearts chapter reported to exist there. I will keep you posted on the progress in a future report of our journey.