How we help

Our Services

A diagnosis of Congenital Heart Disease, whether given pre-natally or at birth, presents parents with a different set of life challenges than those they initially expected. The news of a baby's serious medical condition can be traumatic and will require adjustments to allow the family to come to terms with caring for a sick child.

The medical professionals will do all that they can to make it possible for the baby to go home.
And Heart Children works to provide the supports and services that parents need to stay strong in the situation.

Here's how we can help.

Heart Children has grown a national membership base of parents whose child has CHD and people who have CHD and works closely with the medical teams in CHI Crumlin and the Mater Hospital.

We work to build a community for these groups where they can access peer support and information following discharge from hospital. Our peer support group meetings – Heart Family Fridays – take place in locations through the country on the last Friday of every month.

We provide psychological support for parents and people with CHD who are experiencing anxiety, depression and other issues relating to having or caring for someone with this serious life-long medical condition. Our service offering includes one-to-one sessions with a clinical psychologist, online information webinars and play therapy.

We provide respite grants to families in financial hardships as a result of their child’s long-term hospitalisation. Our Blue Ribbon Fund provides funding for families whose child requires a heart transplant in the UK. We assist with travel, accommodation and living costs.

When children/adults are discharged from hospital on warfarin medication, we fund self-test devices which allow them to monitor their INR readings from home.