Red Hats for BCH Babies: American Heart Month
- Category: General, Cardiology, Maternity Care
- Posted On:
- Written By: Boulder Community Health
All babies born at Foothills Hospital in February will go home wearing adorable, handmade hats: a tiny pop of red that helps raise awareness about congenital heart defects.
Boulder Community Health’s Family Birth Center has partnered with the American Heart Association and the Children's Heart Foundation again this year for their Little Hats, Big Hearts campaign to raise awareness of heart disease in babies and moms.
Knit or crocheted with love by amazing BCH employees and volunteers as well as volunteers from around the country, the wee hats are accompanied by heart health education materials for mom and dad about how to get baby off to a healthy start and lifestyle tips to help prevent heart disease.
Healthy parents and babies mean a healthier community
“We are dedicated to helping create the healthiest community in the nation, and that starts with moms and babies,” said Lisa Allen, director of the BCH Family Birth Center at Foothills Hospital.
Congenital heart defects are the most common birth defect worldwide. And it may surprise you to learn that 90 percent of women have at least one risk factor for cardiovascular disease, according to the American Heart Association (AHA).
Although heart disease remains the #1 killer in the U.S., the good news is that 80 percent of these diseases may be preventable through proper diet, exercise and other actions, according to AHA estimates.
“Thanks to the incredible support by the BCH Ambassadors, we were able to give yarn to our wonderful volunteers and staff,” said Pat Dimond, director of BCH Volunteer Services. “As a community-based nonprofit health system, we think of ourselves as neighbors caring for neighbors,”
(Photo: Laura, Craig, Nick and Baby Brayden, born in January 2019 at the Family Birth Center at Foothills Hospital in Boulder, Colorado.)