On Saturday March 25th the Myocarditis Foundation teamed up with the Texas Children’s Hospital to provide an educational seminar on “Myocarditis, Cardiomyopathies and Sudden Death in Children: An Update for Community Heath Care Professionals.”
Dr. Jack Price spearheaded and chaired the event which has been over 6 months in the making.
Dr. Jeffrey Tobin, Chief of Cardiology at St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital and co-director of the Heart Institute at LeBonheur Children’s Hospital in Tennessee, was the Keynote Speaker. Dr. Towbin previously served as Chief of Cardiology at Texas Children’s Hospital from 2003-2009.
Many pediatricians and Emergency Room Physicians gave up their Saturday to learn more about this catastrophic disease that disproportionately affects so many children and young adults. The room was focused on the speakers and many insightful questions were asked of them. You could hear a pin drop with the exception of whomever was speaking at the time.
The MF shared some “Not a Blank Canvas” poster board stories with the attendees to make
realize just how important quick and correct diagnosis is for improved outcomes to this disease. It put faces to the stories of the victims and survivors that helped make it very real for them.
Many comments of “thank you so much for doing this“ were shared as the attendees left at the end of the day.
The attendees verbalized that they will not look at what they think is a “common childhood disease” the same way again.
We are planning to present this information to other facilities in the future, so that they too can gain the knowledge to correctly diagnose myocarditis.
