Travis County Commissioners Court
February 9, 2010,
Item 2
Item number 2, approve proclamation designating the month of February 2010 as congenital heart defect awareness month in Travis County.
and I'll just go ahead and read the proclamation.
it reads whereas maintaining the health of our children is paramount importance to families and communities.
whereas it is estimated that 40,000 babies are born in the united states with chd, which stands for congenital heart defects each year.
that's one in every 125 births.
and some of them are not diagnosed until months or years after birth, leaving families to face these challenges and hardships of raising their children with these defects.
whereas the medical community has identified 35 different congenital heart defects so far and states they are the leading cause of birth defect-related deaths.
whereas medical research can provide more identifiable means of the origins and symptoms of these defects, and in the past 25 years advances in the treatment of heart defects have enabled half a million u.s.
children with serious congenital heart defects to survive into adulthood.
whereas the earlier chd is detected and treated, it is more likely the affected child will survive and have less long-term health complications.
whereas congenital heart defect awareness provides an opportunity for families whose lives have been affected to celebrate life and to remember loved ones lost, to honor dedicated health professionals, and to meet others and know they are not alone.
now therefore be it proclaimed that the Travis County Commissioners court does hereby designate February 2010 as congenital heart defect awareness month in Travis County, and encourage all citizens to increase awareness, education and services of chd, which each year affects thousands of families in Texas and our community, and I move approval.
>> second.
>> good morning.
>> good morning.
my name is natalie carlson and this is my son nathan.
we're here to ask for support for the proclamation n may 11, 2007, nathan was born and two days later on mother's day he was diagnosed with congenital heart defects, three defects which were life-threatening and they would not have known because he looked completely normal except for his pediatrician decided his heart sounded just a little loud.
therefore we went on a three-month journey from there where he was in the hospital and experienced three open heart surgeries, three additional surgeries from complications, and as you can see, he's a very healthy two and a half-year-old today.
so we're very pleased by that outcome.
what we find by families that are affected by congenital heart defects is they do come out of the blue.
very few of them seem to be genetically defined.
his was not.
we were very surprised by it.
and we are very pleased by this proclamation because it gives the congenital heart defects community the awareness and the opportunity to spread the word about the number one birth defect, and that gives us the opportunity for research because very little research and very little money goes to the study of congenital heart defects.
what I would like to do is introduce to you erin porter, one of our survivors.
>> I was born with transition of the arteries and I had my surgery at 10 months old.
i take medicine every day and I am a senior at a charter school in Austin,en I am looking forward to going on with my life and living a survivor of this defect.
and that's it.
thank you.
>> thank you for being here.
you had a little bit of stage fright coming today.
>> still do.
>> we're not nearly as tough as we look.
>> you did very well.
>> thank you.
>> any additional comments?
>> my name is michael heath and I'm both a patient with a congenital heart defect and the father of a child with a congenital heart defect so I'm here in support of the proclamation and a member of milagras, the cardiac support group in the Austin area.
>> I would like to say as member of the support group which milagras means miracle in spanish, which we consider all of our congenital heart defect children and adults.
and they are having their annual heart walk this Saturday, which helps build awareness and education for congenital heart defects in the Austin communities.
>> very good.
>> so more awareness, more education, more research, earlier treatment.
>> that would be our hope, that some day we'll find out what causes these defects, yes, sir.
>> well, congratulations to all of you.
you look complete health toy me.
>> thank you.
>> thank you.
>> thanks so much for coming down.
>> all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
one day we'll be able to afford framing.
good luck to you.
thank you all.
>> thanks so much.
>> denise, we need you to head this way.
we'll be calling up 17 real soon.
The Closed Caption log for this Commissioners Court agenda item is provided by Travis County Internet Services. Since this file is derived from the Closed Captions created during live cablecasts, there are occasional spelling and grammatical errors. This Closed Caption log is not an official record the Commissioners Court Meeting and cannot be relied on for official purposes. For official records please contact the County Clerk at (512) 854-4722.
Last Modified:
Tuesday, February 9, 2010 2:15 PM
