Merit Health Wesley Educates New Parents on Importance of Heart Health
2/24/2017
Hattiesburg -- To celebrate Heart Month, the Birth Center at Merit Health Wesley partnered with the American Heart Association for “Little Hats, Big Hearts.” Throughout the month of February, each baby born at Merit Health Wesley has received a knitted red hat to help raise awareness of heart health and heart defects that are present at birth.
“The hat has made me start the thought process about the importance of heart health,” said Justin Lankford, father to newborn Klyde Lankford, born at Merit Health Wesley in February. “Any time you raise curiosity in someone it opens them up to thinking about things more, said Lankford. “The hospital providing this education has been a positive for us.”
When babies receive their hats, which are hand-made by volunteers from across the country, parents also receive education on heart disease, the number one killer of Americans, and congenital heart defects, the most common type of birth defect in the country.
“Educating parents on continued health for their growing families is one of the best ways we can care for the babies born at Merit Health Wesley long after they leave our care,” said Vicki Walters, Director of Women’s Services. “We all know that heart health is important, but it’s our hope that these little red reminders will encourage parents to keep heart health at the forefront of their minds as their babies grow into healthy toddlers, teenagers and adults.”
“Heart health is something everyone should take seriously,” said Lankford. “Raising consciousness about it makes it real to people, and providing the hats as a reminder is a great place to start.”
Merit Health Wesley is one of six hospitals in Mississippi which participated in the educational campaign. Volunteers from across the country knitted and crocheted red hats to be given out to thousands of babies during American Heart Month in order to empower parents to live heart healthy lives and to teach their families to do the same.
For more information, visit heart.org.
Newborn Klyde Lankford was born at Merit Health Wesley during Heart Month and received a red hat for the Little Hats, Big Hearts program to remind parents of the importance of heart health.
About Merit Health Wesley
As an affiliate of the state’s largest healthcare system, Merit Health Wesley is committed to providing superior care across the Pine Belt. Recognized for patient safety and for top performance on key quality measures, Merit Health Wesley is also the area’s first and only accredited Chest Pain Center and only area hospital to be accredited for Heart Failure care. For more information about Merit Health Wesley, call (601) 268-8000.
About Merit Health
Merit Health serves the healthcare needs of residents of Mississippi through its 12 affiliated hospitals and 120 physician practices. The healthcare system offers a wide array of services including orthopedics, cardiology, women’s health, emergency departments and broad diagnostic medical and surgical services. The network has approximately 2,300 licensed beds, 2,500 physicians on the combined active medical staffs, and 7,000 employees, and more than 53,000 admissions and 300,000 emergency department visits each year. Merit Health Batesville is owned, in part, by physicians. Learn more at mymerithealth.com.
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