By Jenny Shelton
Child Life Manager

For many of us, this week in February is devoted to getting items to prepare for the celebration of Valentine’s Day.  If you go into any store you will see cards, chocolate candy, decorations, flowers, and heart-shaped balloons.  Here at Le Bonheur, we celebrate hearts in a different way.  For those of you who have been blessed to never visit the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (CVICU), Cath Lab, or the Cardiac Unit it is a special week of awareness and education about hearts, February 7-14 is Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week.  This week’s annual observance is to help promote education and understanding about congenital heart defects.  Congenital heart defects are medical conditions that are present at birth that affect the function and structure of the heart.  Congenital heart defects are one of the most common birth defects that are diagnosed in infants.  Heart defects can range in severity from having a small hole between two chambers to having severe malformations of the anatomy of the heart.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “Congenital heart defects affect nearly 1% of newborns in the United States and are a leading cause of infant mortality”.  The CDC is currently researching possible causes and ways to prevent congenital heart defects in the future.  

Le Bonheur’s Heart Institute will host the second annual Heart Reunion on Saturday, February 25, 2012.  The reunion invites children and their families that have been touched by the Heart Institute over the past five years to come back to the hospital to connect with old friends and make a few new ones, too.  The event will have activities, educational materials, heart-healthy snacks, and time to reconnect with physicians and fellow caregivers.  

For more information about congenital heart defects:

http://www.cdc.gov/features/heartdefects/

http://www.americanheart.org/

For more information about Le Bonheur Children’s Heart Institute:

www.lebonheur.org/lebonheur/Our+Services/Clinical+Specialties/Heart+Institiute