Bob has backed a new campaign by the UK’s leading children’s heart charity, The Children’s Heart Federation, which seeks to increase early diagnosis of heart conditions for children.
The Think HEART campaign aims to empower and inform parents giving them the confidence to raise their concerns about their child with their doctor or a health professional. The Think HEART acronym has five easy to remember steps to identify a possible heart problem:
H – Heart Rate (Is their heart rate too fast or too slow. Normal rate is between 100 to 160 beats per minute)
E – Energy (Are they sleepy, quiet and too tired to feed)
A – Appearance (Is your baby a pale, waxy, dusky, blue or grey colour)
R – Respiration (Are they breathing too fast or too slow. Normal rate is between 40 to 60 breaths per minute)
T – Temperature (Are they cold to touch – particularly their hands and feet)
Heart problems go undiagnosed in far too many children and Think HEART will increase early diagnosis and help to save children’s lives. These conditions affect 5000 children a year, almost 1 per cent of all children and currently only around a third of them are picked up before birth.
Bob Neill MP, who sponsored the campaign’s launch event in Parliament, commented:
“I am delighted to support the Think HEART campaign and it was a privilege to help the Children’s Heart Federation launch the advice in Westminster. This is a fantastic cause and in a time of limited resources such a campaign which relies of parent power to increase awareness and empower other parents is extremely valuable. Together we can make sure that children with congenital heart problems are diagnosed much sooner. This campaign will help save lives and reduce the impacts on children and their families in this area which is why I’m backing the campaign”.
Anne Keatley-Clarke Director of CHF commented about the upcoming campaign:
“This Children’s Heart Week we are aiming to spread the word about the Think HEART campaign as far and as wide as possible. It’s great to receive the support of Bob Neill MP for our Think HEART campaign”.
ENDS
Think HEART flyers available to view here: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BxDDaen5r3MeMjRHel92TWp4SGc
Notes to editors:
1. The Children's Heart Federation (CHF) is the UK's leading children's heart charity and an umbrella organisation for 21 member groups which support heart children and their families. CHF supports families through its information service, small grants programme, peer support events and provision of equipment. The charity also lobbies for changes to the health, social care and education systems for the benefit of heart families (see www.chfed.org.uk).
2. Interviews can be arranged with parents of a heart child and Anne Keatley-Clarke, Chief Executive of Children's Heart Federation.
3. Think HEART is a CHF campaign based upon the work of Dr Joan LaRovere.
4. Bob Neill MP sponsored the Think HEART campaign launch event in Parliament on Monday 14th May 2012