Abbott and Damar Hamlin Team up to Build Heart Health Community With New HeartMates Program

• HeartMates will create a supportive and empowering community for people impacted by heart conditions, leveraging Abbott's leadership in cardiovascular care
• Professional football player and heart health advocate Damar Hamlin joins Abbott to kick off the HeartMates program
• Heart disease impacts over 100 million Americans, nearly half of U.S. adults¹
• Abbott will host a media conference call on Tuesday, Oct. 31, at 5 p.m. ET with Hamlin to discuss the program

ABBOTT PARK, Ill., Oct. 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Abbott (NYSE: ABT), a global leader in heart health, announced today the Abbott HeartMates program, a new initiative that will kick off with professional football player Damar Hamlin as its first ambassador.  

Experiencing a major heart-related incident can cause emotional distress and be an incredibly isolating experience.² A group of individuals working together as a team can make all the difference to those affected and help them make a full comeback and live their fullest lives. The Abbott HeartMates program aims to create a community of support for people and caregivers impacted by heart conditions. The program will enable participants to share stories and receive emotional support as well as connect with others going through similar heart health journeys.

"After experiencing a cardiovascular event that changed my life, I know the power and importance of having an engaged team to lean on for mental and physical recovery," Hamlin said. "I'm partnering with Abbott to launch HeartMates because we share a vision to offer the support and encouragement I received after my incident, so others feel empowered to achieve their own comeback stories."

Building the HeartMates Team
Abbott is inviting people who are committed to inspiring others through their heart health stories to join Hamlin on our HeartMates team. The team will be comprised of people directly or indirectly affected by a heart condition including cardiovascular patients, their caregivers, health care providers, friends and family. Team members will collaborate directly with Abbott and Hamlin as program ambassadors and promote the HeartMates community-building tenets to those impacted by heart conditions.

Individuals who would like to nominate someone they know or submit themselves to be considered for the HeartMates team are encouraged to share their heart stories with Abbott and Hamlin via email at HeartMates@abbott.com. The inaugural HeartMates team will be drafted in early 2024.

"At Abbott, we pour our hearts into developing innovative medical devices that empower people to come back from cardiovascular events," said Nadim Geloo, M.D., senior director of medical affairs in Abbott's Structural Heart business. "However, nobody makes a comeback alone. Our HeartMates program creates a community of support and resources for those navigating their heart health and embodies our unwavering commitment to ensuring that no one faces these challenges alone."

Abbott and Hamlin are collaborating closely to further build the HeartMates community by meeting and hearing from people around the country impacted by cardiovascular events, as well as their caregivers. Hamlin and the Abbott team recently visited Maria Fareri Children's Hospital in Westchester, N.Y., to learn from caregivers and hear comeback stories directly from people who have experienced cardiac events.

To access B-roll and photos of this visit, click here.

Media interested in joining a conference call on Tuesday, Oct. 31, at 5 p.m. ET with Abbott, Hamlin and a family impacted by a cardiovascular condition, can reach out to Maddie King at maddie.king@abbott.com for dial-in details.

To find out more about the Abbott HeartMates program and hear stories from patients impacted by heart conditions, visit HeartMates.Abbott.

Abbott's Cardiovascular Leadership
Abbott is a global leader in cardiovascular care and is focused on advancing health technologies that restore blood flow, keep hearts beating in rhythm, fix damaged heart valves, and slow the progression of heart disease so people can control their heart condition and not let it control them. We help people avoid open-heart surgery though some of the smallest, most advanced devices on the market that are implanted without major or invasive surgery. Abbott is delivering solutions to keep people and their doctors more connected to stay ahead of worsening heart disease. We are focused on ensuring our innovations are available to treat as many people in as many places as possible.

About Abbott 
Abbott is a global healthcare leader that helps people live more fully at all stages of life. Our portfolio of life-changing technologies spans the spectrum of healthcare, with leading businesses and products in diagnostics, medical devices, nutritionals and branded generic medicines. Our 115,000 colleagues serve people in more than 160 countries.

Connect with us at www.abbott.com, on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/abbott-, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Abbott and on Twitter @AbbottNews.

¹ Tsao CW, Aday AW, Almarzooq ZI, et al. Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics—2023 Update: A Report From the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2023;147:e93–e621
² Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Heart Disease and Mental Health Disorders, 2020