When Your Baby is Born With a Congenital Heart Defect featuring Annamarie Saarinen

When Annamarie Saarinen’s newborn daughter Eve was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect she didn’t know that 1 in 100 babies are born with similar conditions and 40% of those are serious and require intervention in early stages of life. What’s more Eve, like so many babies, almost missed getting diagnosed in time because there was no regular congenital heart defect screening for newborns on the Recommended Uniform Screening Panel for newborns. Weeks and then months unfolded with Eve in the NICU until she was old enough to have the heart surgery that would save her life.

 

Annamarie’s experience set her on a life-changing course to transform the way the medical community approaches heart defects in babies. She co-founded The Newborn Foundation to develop policies, programs and technologies to improve early diagnosis, health outcomes and access to care for mothers and babies and has drafted more than 40 pieces of health legislation, authored more than 200 policy briefings and co-authored numerous published manuscripts on the importance of technology in advancing early detection and treatment of neonatal and pediatric health conditions. In celebration of Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week, Annamarie shares Eve’s story, the work she’s doing through the pandemic to help get care to babies in resource poor settings, and her belief that those of us that have the means and the ability have to do all we can to make sure that the dreams and wishes other families have aren’t out of reach. 

 

Connect With Annamarie:

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Newborn Foundation Website

Email - annamarie@newbornfoundation.org

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