Our History and Story

Rich Feneis, Joel Vogel, Jessica Theisen 

There are some dates that you just can’t forget. 

For Joel Vogel, that day was May 9, 2004.

Vogel describes that day – Mother’s Day- as a relatively low key, uneventful day.

His daughter Kayla had come home from college to visit his wife Laurie. They were doing yard work together.  And as the the family was preparing to sit down and watch a spring thunderstorm roll in from the safety of their garage, the unthinkable happened.

Vogel’s arms starting going number. His fingers were tinglinig. He was having trouble breathing. He felt sick to his stomach.  

Vogel was having a heart attack. 

“I was 46”, he said.

A short and scary amubulance ride to St. Cloud Hospital- Vogel went into Cardiac arrest – ended with Vogel being rushed into surgery to have six stents implanted.

And he was mad.

“Why me?’ Vogel remembers asking “I’m too young. This shouldn’t be me.  I was playing full-court basketball with guys half by age on Wednesday nights. An I had a heart attack. Like are you kidding me?”

source

Mended Hearts is a national and community based non-profit organization that has been offering the gift of hope to heart disease patients, their families and care-givers. To offer this hope Mended Heats offers the following programs:

  • Mended Hearts is the largest peer to peer heart patient support network in the world
  • Mended Hearts has been offering hope and support for 69 years, providing more than 230,000 visits each year
  • Mended Hearts provides education, support and hope to all types of heart patients and their families.
  • Mended Hearts and Mended Little Hearts has 265 chapters in North America, serving 460+ hospitals

After assisting many other nonprofits use golf tournaments as a successful fundraiser, Joel decided to start an annual Mended Hearts Golf Tournament in to raise money for cardiac related education and to purchase AEDs for placement in central Minnesota.

The first tournament was in 2012 and result in one AED being placed, by 2019 a total of 28 AED’s had placed.

Annual Cardiac Survivor Photo from Golf Tournament

 

 

AED Donated to Quiet Oaks Hospice

In 2018, a SaveStation pilot program was successfully executed in Sartell, MN.  Early in 2018, a proposal was presented to the CentraCare Health Foundation in St. Cloud MN. The proposal was seeking a grant to fund the installation of 3 SaveStations containing AED units in a weather proof, monitored cabinet in the St. Cloud area. These units would be the first outdoor installation of a SaveStation in MN,  making AEDs available to the public 24/7 and 365 days/year. 

The grant was approved in 2 parts: CentraCare Health Foundation would provide an AED unit and CPR/AED training for a neighborhood group with the agreement that the neighborhood group would provide funding for the SaveStation unit.  The Pine Point neighborhood in Sartell, MN was the first pilot neighborhood and approximately $5,500 was raised in one month with a participation rate of 70% of the neighbors. The SaveStation unit was installed in the Pine Point neighborhood in December of 2018 and CPR/AED training was provided to the neighborhood group. The CentraCare Health Foundation ultimately decided to fund 25 more AED units using the same grant pilot program format and two additional units were installed in neighborhoods in the St. Cloud area. Advocates for Health was founded to continue to spread the SaveStation movement.

In 2018, a SaveStation pilot program was successfully executed in Sartell, MN.  Early in 2018, a proposal was presented to the CentraCare Health Foundation in St. Cloud MN. The proposal was seeking a grant to fund the installation of 3 SaveStations containing AED units in a weather proof, monitored cabinet in the St. Cloud area. These units would be the first outdoor installation of a SaveStation in MN,  making AEDs available to the public 24/7 and 365 days/year. 

The grant was approved in 2 parts: CentraCare Health Foundation would provide an AED unit and CPR/AED training for a neighborhood group with the agreement that the neighborhood group would provide funding for the SaveStation unit.  The Pine Point neighborhood in Sartell, MN was the first pilot neighborhood and approximately $5,500 was raised in one month with a participation rate of 70% of the neighbors. The SaveStation unit was installed in the Pine Point neighborhood in December of 2018 and CPR/AED training was provided to the neighborhood group. The CentraCare Health Foundation ultimately decided to fund 25 more AED units using the same grant pilot program format and two additional units were installed in neighborhoods in the St. Cloud area. Advocates for Health was founded to continue to spread the SaveStation movement.