WATERBURY, Conn. (AP) - Supporters of the Heart Center of Greater Waterbury are banding together in an effort to keep the emergency medical facility open.

The state Office of Health Care Access is considering closing the heart center in the next few months.

Backers say closing the center could put lives at risk by forcing people with cardiac problems to travel to Bridgeport or New Haven for emergency treatment.

The heart center has failed to reach the number of open heart surgeries contained in the state's approval for the center.

The center is owned and operated by Saint Mary's and Waterbury hospitals and the University of Connecticut Health Center/John Dempsey Hospital in Farmington.

It was approved as a demonstration project in July 2004, but the trial period ended last month.