Little Hats, Big Hearts Making A Difference Across Texas

SAN ANGELO, TX – A little yarn and a lot of love can lead to great changes in the community, and for Nancy Johnson, this means helping raise awareness of congenital heart disease in infants. The program Little Hats, Big Hearts enters its second year in West Texas with a large success.

Congenital heart disease is the leading cause of death in infants in the Unites States; nearly 40,000 children are born with some form of CHD, according to the CDC, every year. Twenty-five percent of those babies require surgery or a procedure during their first year of life.

The American Heart Association created the Little Hats, Big Hearts campaign to help raise awareness and inform parents of the potential risks their children can face and what can be done to help them. This program began in Chicago, and volunteers distributed 300 handwoven hats to newborns in the area. When Nancy Johnson learned about this, she decided that West Texas would be an excellent place to continue the program.

At this year’s launch, Dr. Blanc, an interventional cardiologist at Community Medical Associates, spoke of the importance of raising awareness and how it could help save lives. As people learn more about the disease and science finds new ways to provide lifesaving treatments, survival rates go up. Fifteen years ago, the survival rate for those suffering from critical CHD was 65 percent; it is now at 85 percent. Those who suffer from non-critical CHD have a 95 percent survival rate. Programs like Little Hats, Big Hearts play a major role in teaching the community about these facts.

“The hats haven’t gotten bigger, but the hearts have,” Blanc said in reference to the increase in volunteers.

Jaime Muth, Corporate Market Director of the American Heart Association in San Angelo, praised the hard work and efforts provided by Ms. Johnson and her volunteers.

“You guys are what keeps this program going, so I thank you for your dedication, and we appreciate you so much,” Muth said.

She gave a brief history of how the initiative, especially how the AHA realized that its awareness building efforts have over looked the group of infants who suffer from this disease and decided to help out.

Ms. Johnson then went on to thank all the volunteers who made the knitting and the packaging of these hats possible. With their help, the group is able to donate 200 hats to the Baylor Scott & White Medical Center in Waco, Texas.  Over 2,000 hats have been donated that originated from the San Angelo area. Places like Kerrville, Waco, Del Rio, Brownwood and Coleman are also places in which Little Hats, Big Hearts has grown.

Through their efforts and dedication, the volunteers have been able to expand the program to other hospitals in the state. One of their proudest accomplishments is starting the program in Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth.

Cities like Tyler and Bryan, Texas have also created their own knitting groups that help supply the hats to the hospitals. In Tyler the Sisters of Service have donated over 300 hats; in Bryan women from the Federal Prison Camp have donated over 900 hats to their area.  

Ms. Johnson’s goal is to reach out to both small and local hospitals and make a difference in the lives of the families who may suffer with this disease.

“With the proper care from the hospital, the nurses and the doctors, [parents] should understand that CHD is preventable,” she concluded.