National Heart Month is in February and we at Tiny Tickers, the baby hearts charity, are asking you to support Heart Week between 7th - 14th February 2016. Heart Week is a chance to join together to help babies born with serious heart conditions by raising vital funds and awareness.
Tiny Tickers is a small national charity that aims to improve the detection, care and treatment of congenital heart disease (CHD) in babies. Tiny Tickers provides specialist training to health professionals and sonographers so they are better equipped to identify a heart defect during a pregnancy scan. We support parents and families dealing with a diagnosis, and we raise awareness of heart defects in babies so that parents know what signs to look out for.
When heart problems are detected during pregnancy, babies get treatment from the first possible moment – and early detection is shown to greatly improve their chance of survival and long-term quality of life, and lowers the risk of side-effects of heart failure such as brain damage.
Heart Week will help raise vital funds and awareness for the 1,000 babies who are sent home from hospitals every year with an undetected heart condition.
Martha’s condition was thankfully picked up during pregnancy. Her story perfectly explains how lifesaving early detection can be. Meet Martha here. (http://www.tinytickers.org/2016/01/05/marthas-story/)
Think HEART
If you are worried your baby is one of these 1,000, these are the 5 signs that will help you protect your baby.
Think HEART points to a range of symptoms that, although non-specific, may be signs of an underlying heart defect - reducing oxygenated blood flow and needing urgent attention:
1) Heart rate: too fast or slow? (normally 100 to 160 beats per minute)
2) Energy & Feeding: sleepy, quiet, floppy, too tired to feed or falling asleep during feeds?
3) Appearance: a pale, waxy, dusky, blue, purple, mottled or grey colour may mean that not enough oxygenated, red blood is getting to the body (normal oxygen saturations are 95-100%)
4) Respiration: breathing too fast or slow? (normally 40-60 breaths per minute)
5) Temperature: cold to touch - particularly hands and feet?
Read about Martha's story here
For more information please contact Jenni Cowlishaw – Senior Fundraiser; jenni@tinytickers.org / 07894 553 476
Tiny Tickers Registered charity number 1078114 – 76, Chiswick Lane, London W4 2LA
No comments
Post a Comment