Her mission is mending hearts
Alberta Rogers has been mending hearts in Houston since doctors healed her own, almost 20 years ago. The 88-year-old West University Place resident clearly remembers saying a prayer before going in for open-heart surgery in early 1999.
“I said Lord, if you want me, I’ll go with you, but if you keep me here, I’ll do anything you ask,” she recalled. “A few months later, the answer came to me. ‘This will be your mission.’ ”
Rogers was healing from the surgery in the hospital when a volunteer came to visit. Even though he was a younger man, he had more health problems than she did — but he wasn’t letting that stop him.
“He was so enthusiastic and talked about how he was being helped,” Rogers said. “I enjoyed talking to him, and he invited me to a support group meeting.”
She waited until she regained her strength. “Then I thought, ‘It’s time for me to return the favor,’ ” she said. “I wanted to share the hope he gave me. And I’ve been doing it ever since.”
The group turned out to be a local chapter of Mended Hearts, a national nonprofit charged with giving hope to heart patients.
The organization was founded in 1952 by cardiac surgeon Dwight Harken and has grown into the largest peer-to-peer heart patient support network in the world.
Donnette Smith, president of Mended Hearts, also joined after her own heart surgery.
“I was really scared,” she said. “I didn’t know anyone who had heart surgery before. Everyone tried to encourage me, but I didn’t believe them because they hadn’t been through it.”
Then Smith met a Mended Hearts volunteer. “My ears perked up,” she said. “He had been through the same surgery. It was like someone had thrown me a life preserver when I was drowning. It just meant so much to me. It calmed my fears.”
Smith ended up starting a local chapter and worked her way up to the national president.
Rogers has helped start two new chapters of Mended Hearts in Houston — one based at Memorial Hermann Southwest and one in Katy. She also has served as chapter vice president, president and national convention delegate for the group.
She spends about three days a week volunteering in the Texas Medical Center and in southwest Houston.
Rogers takes the bus in the morning to the Medical Center and spends about four hours there, sometimes seeing as many as 20 patients a day. Or she’ll head to Memorial Hermann Southwest and spend time with a handful of patients.
“When they see someone 88 years old helping them, that’s encouragement,” she said.
She shares her own story with them. “And 18 and a half years later, I’m still doing what I want,” she said.
Rogers added that lending a sympathetic ear can sometimes be the best medicine. “You really listen,” she said. “It’s listening that’s the most important because you pick up on their concerns.”
And she knows firsthand how difficult facing heart issues can be. “Doctors can tell you what you’re going through, but many a doctor has not had a heart problem,” she said. “But I have. It’s a frightening thing to go through. I tell them, ‘You’re in good hands here.’ ”
She also heads to the waiting rooms to talk to families. “The caregiver is a very important part of getting well,” she said.
Rogers trains individuals interested in joining the effort — and hopes more will sign up.
“It’s hard to get volunteers,” she said. “But if they only knew the satisfaction of walking into a room, knowing someone was down, talking to them and giving encouragement. It’s so rewarding.”
She wants to spread the word about the important work Mended Hearts does across the country.
“They think we fix love affairs,” she said with a laugh. “We do something even better than that — we mend the body and the heart. I can’t say enough about it.”
Roy Whitney worked alongside Rogers for a number of years and served as chapter president of Mended Hearts.
“She’s a complete inspiration to heart patients,” Whitney said. “She catches a bus and walks a mile to the hospital.”
Rogers helped him grow the southwest chapter from 15 to 50 members.
“You’ve seen hardworking people before, but she’s unbelievable,” he said. “Day to day she’s visiting, supporting, encouraging and informing people at the hospital. And she’s been doing it for many years.”