Our Story
The Beretta home is a lively combination of Italian and Puerto Rican heritage, Tennessee hospitality and unconditional love. Their long-held belief is that faith and family are everything. When Joe Beretta, the patriarch of the family, experienced sudden advanced heart failure in Spring 2016, the Berettas were introduced to the LVAD, or Left Ventricle Assist Device. Patients being considered for a VAD have reached a critical point in their health where their only chance for survival is a heart transplant or VAD. Both rely on technology and expertise that is difficult to implement outside of a very advanced hospital setting. Because of this, only a small percentage of hospitals are able to treat advanced heart failure patients and most families must travel to recieve care.
Fortunately Joe and his wife of 33 years, Lillian, lived just miles away from Vanderbilt University Hospital, where Joe underwent the LVAD surgery. As the Beretta family walked through months of painstaking, time consuming evaluation, pre and post-op hospital stays and the early stages of rehabilitation, they began to wonder how other families are able to get by if they don’t live close to the hospital.
After much discussion, Lillian asked a member of the Vanderbilt team how commuting VAD families are able to undertake the strain of travel expenses. It grieved her to learn that many families are denied approval for the VAD process because they are unable to afford the weeks of hotels and commute costs. The VAD is miraculous but imperfect, so patients & their caregivers must spend four to six weeks within 60 miles of the hospital where they’re being treated for outpatient, post-op care. If they do not agree to incur the costs of relocating during this time, they will NOT receive the VAD.
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She also discovered that her family was largely in the minority as roughly 70% of Vanderbilt's VAD patients and their families live more than an hour away from Nashville and must look for temporary housing in order to meet guidelines and qualify for implantation. The Berettas determined that they would do all that was in their means to make a way for those in need of VAD implantation to have the support they need.
On July 2, 2016, Joe passed away due to unforeseen complications. With the dream of providing hope and resources for VAD and heart transplant patients already in her heart, Lillian and her family created The Joe Beretta Heart Foundation. Our mission is to illuminate the path through heart failure for advanced heart failure patients, caregivers and their families.
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We provide emergency housing, emotional support, holiday outreach, short-term financial assistance, and more for patients in eight hospitals in three cities including:
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Vanderbilt University Medical Center: Nashville, TN
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Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital: Nashville, TN
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TriStar Centennial Medical Center: Nashville, TN
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Ascension St. Thomas: Nashville, TN
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University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC): Pittsburgh , PA
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UPMC Children’s Hospital: Pittsburgh, PA
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Allegheny General Hospital: Pittsburgh, PA
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Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania (CHOP): Philadelphia, PA
