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Winston-Salem, NC - More than 200 golfers are expected to tee-off Saturday in the 19th annual Open Heart Open Charity Golf Classic to benefit Forsyth Medical Center's Cardiac and Vascular Center. The tournament was organized by cardiac surgeons at Forsyth Medical Center in 1985 to recognize the ability of open-heart surgery patients to return to active and productive lives.

"This event is like a homecoming for our patients and surgeons," says Candy Crews, a cardiac patient navigator at FMC and coordinator of the tournament. "Any patient that has had open heart surgery at FMC is invited to play. We have patients playing who had open heart surgery as recently as 2004 and going almost all the way back to the tournament's inception. One former open heart patient is playing in his 17th tournament."

This year's tournament, co-chaired by Dr. Bruce Walley, Dr. Joel Morgan, Dr. David Duncan and Dr. Bret Borchelt, all cardiac surgeons at Forsyth Medical Center, is one of the center's programs designed to help open heart patients have a rapid recovery through both medical and recreational rehabilitation.

"There are so many wonderful stories of personal triumph attached to the tournament," Crews says. "From patients who overcame significant rehabilitation challenges to family members who play in memory of a loved one, this is a tournament a celebration of life for our patients."

The Open Heart Open will be played at the Meadowlands Golf Course in Wallburg with group tee times at 8 a.m. and again at 1:30 p.m.

Forsyth Medical Center is one of seven hospitals that are part of Novant Health, a not-for-profit healthcare system based in North Carolina. In addition to Forsyth Medical Center, other hospital affiliates include Medical Park Hospital in Winston-Salem and Thomasville Medical Center in Thomasville; also Presbyterian Hospital, Presbyterian Orthopaedic Hospital, Presbyterian Hospital Matthews and Presbyterian Hospital Huntersville in the Charlotte area. Other facilities and programs of Novant Health include three philanthropic foundations, two nursing home and senior residential facilities, physician clinics, outpatient surgery and diagnostic centers, rehabilitation programs and community health outreach programs. Novant Health has been nationally recognized as the "Best in Industry for Working Mothers" by Working Mother Magazine and one of the "Top 40 Family-Friendly NC Companies" by Charlotte Parent and Piedmont Parent magazines. Additionally, Novant Health was named to the 2003 SMG Top 100 Integrated Healthcare Networks in the country.