HEARTBEAT SERVING WOUNDED WARRIORS

Heartbeat's mission is to provide emergency assistance, morale building and innovative therapeutic services for wounded warriors and their families. These programs provide the reintegration tools and both the physical and psychological skills needed to successfully transition to the civilian world. Our emergency assistance is a bridge to meet the temporary needs of the wounded warrior family so that they do not become overwhelmed. Our cutting edge therapy programs help the warrior physical and psychologically heal so that they can continue to be the provider and head of the household they were prior to their injuries. We continue to analyze statistically both our Back in the Saddle Warriors and Scuba Warriors. The analysis supports that these two therapies improve significantly levels of pain, ability to focus, stress, flexibility, mood and physical tension. The morale programs lets the warrior and their family know they are not alone. Christmas Wish couples military and community families. This is a very popular program and creates a bridge of friendship and support for all involved. Our Back to School Program helps children of Wounded Warriors and Special Forces begins the new school year on a positive note and the parents feel so supported.

Heartbeat utilizes three strategies. The first is financial assistance for those wounded warriors that are experiencing extreme financial hardship. We offer support for food, rent, utilities and transportation. Heartbeat believes that warriors cannot recover from either their physical or psychological injuries if they are struggling with the basic needs of living.

The second is morale support especially during the holidays. Our Christmas Wish program creates a bridge of friendship and support between community families and our military families in the form of gifts and dinners. Christmas Give A Gift Card provides gifts cards for the families to support them during the holidays. We also provide Christmas dinners for many families that are financially struggling. Heartbeat also provides new school supplies for children of Wounded Warriors and Special Forces.

The third strategy is the therapeutic services we offer: Back in the Saddle Warriors – a clinical Equine Therapeutic Riding program, Scuba Warriors – therapeutic diving. As part of our Back in the Saddle Warriors Program we have added BITS: Kids which utilizes horses to help disabled children of Wounded Warriors and BITS: Couples which utilizes horses to improve relationships and communication between husband and wife Wounded Warriors.
All our therapy programs are designed to capture those warriors who do not fit in the “normal box" for treatment. Our therapies help with both the physical as well as psychological injuries.

To accomplish these goals, Heartbeat has an outstanding relationship with Underwater Sports Inc., a partner in our Scuba Warrior program. Our core team is a dedicated group of Wounded Warriors or prior military. Because they are prior military/wounded warriors there is an instant bond and trust which increases the success rate of our therapy.

We also partner with a therapeutic horse riding facility – Healing Hearts Ranch and their certified PATH instructor to establish and implement our therapeutic goals for all parts of our Back in the Saddle Warriors.

Cascade Service Dogs helps train and guide our warrior and canine teams. This training requires at least 9 months of training to help the canine partner meet the needs of the warrior.

Heartbeat also has over 100 volunteers who tirelessly give their time and energy to help these programs succeed. Additionally, we have major support from many Washington State businesses and collaborate with the military in Washington State and other military agencies. In addition, grants and our donors have enabled us to continue our mission.
All of the support for our morale programs comes directly from the community. This support is in the form of Christmas gifts, dinners and outings.

With over 2 million deployments, the need for our services is immense. Our therapy programs have only been in operation since 2010 and our emergency services since 2004. From 2004 to 2019 Heartbeat has helped over 6,300 warriors with emergency assistance. Our morale program has helped over 63,000 and since 2010, over 2,400 warriors have completed our therapy programs. Because the need is so great, reaching as many wounded warriors and their families is one of our highest goals. Yet the number of wounded warriors is staggering and these injuries not only impact the individual family but our entire community.

Our priority is to increase the accessibility to our programs, not just for the next couple of years, but forever. As Janice Buckley, Founder and President, states “if this country is to remain great, we must honor and treat our returning heroes with integrity and an open heart".