CHD Awareness Week - Day 1

American Heart Month kicked off on February 1st with lots of people "going red" in honor of those affected by congenital heart defects and acquired heart disease.  My Facebook feed and notifications went crazy on Friday with many of y'all tagging me in your photos and status updates - it seriously made my day!

I mean - really.  How great does everyone look all decked out in red?!

Today, February 7th, marks the first day of Congenital Heart Defect (CHD) Awareness Week.  Many states across the country, including North Carolina, have declared February 7th-14th as a time to raise awareness of the #1 birth defect; a time to educate, a time to act.

Over the next few days, I'll be blogging about six different topics as they relate to congenital heart defects - prevalence and diagnosis, pulse oximetry screening, blood donation, organ transplant and donation, hospital support, and research.  Each post will contain a few facts (maybe you'll learn something new - I certainly have!) and at least one action item.  I believe awareness and action go hand-in-hand, and my goal is to give us some tangible things we can do over the next several days.

I hope you'll join me!

Tomorrow's topic: Prevalence and Diagnosis