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Hove MP Weatherley helps raise awareness of children’s heart conditions

Sarah Green May 8, 2014

Mike Weatherley, the Conservative MP for Hove and Portslade, helps draw attention to the warning signs of possible heart problems in babies.

Mike Weatherley, MP

He is calling on parents to watch out for important warning signs following a reception launching the initiative in Parliament.

Mike is backing Think HEART, a campaign by the Children’s Heart Federation to increase the early diagnosis of children’s heart conditions. Think HEART provides parents with five easy signs to help to spot a heart problem:

H – Heart Rate (Is their heart rate too fast or too slow? A normal rate is between 100 to 160 beats per minute)

E – Energy (Is your baby sleepy, quiet and too tired to feed?)

A – Appearance (Is your baby a pale, waxy, dusky, blue or grey colour?)

R – Respiration (Is your baby breathing too fast or too slow? A normal rate is between 40 to 60 breaths per minute)

T – Temperature (Is your baby cold to touch – particularly their hands and feet?)

Mike is also backing the Children’s Heart Federation’s campaign for all babies to be tested for heart conditions at birth to help save lives. Pulse Oximetry is a quick, painless and cheap test that measures oxygen levels in blood and detects over 90% of life-threatening heart defects in newborns.

Mike said: “Every year, around 5,000 babies are born with Congenital Heart Disease. At present, many of these babies, with potentially lethal but treatable conditions, leave hospital without being diagnosed. I am proud to support the Children’s Heart Federation’s campaign to get all babies tested for heart conditions at birth and I encourage parents across Hove and Portslade to look out for the five Think HEART warning signs.”

For more information and to get involved with the Think HEART campaign, CLICK HERE:

 

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