Blog
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Hospital Rankings – A Letter to U.S. News and World Report
In response to conversations at our 2019 Summit on Transparency and Public Reporting last fall, PCHA submitted a letter to US News Editorial Staff, expressing the concerns of the patients and families we serve regarding the challenges of ranking hospitals. We are pleased that we were able to have a constructive follow-up conversation with them…
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Sweet Girl Paislee
Paislee Kate was prenatally diagnosed with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. At 33 weeks, doctors considered her in “imminent danger” so, in February 2018, she was delivered by emergency C-section. After she was born, more complications arose. The morning after she was born, she was moved to another hospital 45 minutes away. Scott and his wife,…
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Bella
En julio de 2017, nació nuestra heroína del corazón, Bella. No sabíamos sobre la cardiopatía congénita de Bella (CHD): defecto septal ventricular, defecto del tabique auricular, estenosis pulmonar y miocardiopatía hipertrófica, hasta que nació a las 39 semanas y 6 días. A las pocas horas de nacer, Bella tuvo dificultades para respirar y sus niveles…
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Words to Know (Heart Glossary)
Listen Print A B C E H I L M P R S T V A aerobic (say: air-OH-bik) activity: Aerobic activity is any kind of movement that makes your muscles use oxygen. It gets your heart pumping, too. Swimming, dancing, and soccer are all types of aerobic activity, so hit that pool, dance floor, or soccer field…
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Ryan Kirst
February 3, 1999, our heart warrior was born. We were already blessed with a six-year-old daughter and we were excited to add a son to our family. It wasn’t until Ryan was born that we learned he had something seriously wrong with his heart. He was born blue and right away they knew something was…
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News Alert: 3D Printing a Human Heart Valve
Originally posted on October 10th, 2019 by Dr. Francis Collins on NIH Directors Blog “While there’s a long way to go until then, a team of researchers has reached an important milestone in bioprinting collagen and other extracellular matrix proteins that undergird every tissue and organ in the body. The researchers have become so adept at it that…
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New Diagnosis – Pulse Oximetry
It’s Newborn Screening Awareness Month! Previously we shared these two perspectives on the benefits of pulse ox and the effort to make this non-invasive test a standard screening of newborns. Pulse Ox screening has made it possible to detect CHD in many newborns that would have otherwise gone home undiagnosed. These contributions were provided by Dr….
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Bella
In July of 2017, our heart hero, Bella, was born. We didn’t learn about Bella’s congenital heart defect (CHD)–Ventricular Septal Defect, Unroofed Coronary Sinus Atrial Septal Defect, Pulmonary Stenosis, and Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy–until she was born at 39 weeks and 6 days. Within a few hours of her birth, Bella had difficulty breathing and her oxygen…
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August Recap – Back to School
Back to school is an exciting time of year, but it can also be a very hectic transition from summer. Throughout the month of August we reviewed tips and tricks on how to make the transition as smooth as possible.
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Success in School – Communication is Key!
As the new school year gets rolling again, it’s easy to see how the physical lists for supplies and schedules will help prepare our students for a successful year, but as a heart-parent, what can we do to help our students when CHD and school come together? This year, I am entering my eleventh year…